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Lord’s, London: 144 years on from the first Men’s Test match at the legendary Lord’s Cricket Ground, the iconic venue has finally had its first Women’s Test match between England and India on Friday, July 10. The momentous occasion was met with huge fanfare as ex-players were celebrated, and fans were treated to a proper day of Test Cricket. India were quick, but ultimately reckless with the bat posting 285, but had a decent start with the ball, keeping England at 21/1 at the end of day one of this historic fixture.
Nat Sciver-Brunt put her English side into the field first on this scorching Friday morning. The Women’s T20 World Cup top wicket-taker, Shree Charani received her Test cap, and for England, Alice Capsey and Mady Villiers also made their debuts. After a fanfare moment honoring England women cricketers of the past, the game was underway and Lauren Filer drew first blood in just the second over of the match. Shefali Verma, who as always was itching to get scoring was trapped by a sharp good length delivery from Filer, edging it to Amy Jones behind the stumps for the first duck of her Test career.
The opening blow indicated that pace was the key on the day, and Filer and Lauren Bell kept the movement going against the left handed pair of Yastika Bhatia and Smriti Mandhana. The two still kept the game free flowing, rather than being cautious. But the unpredictable Lord’s track sprung a surprise on Bhatia. Bell went fuller and instead of the ball deviating towards Bhatia’s off stump, where the bat was moving towards, it skidded flat through her legs and onto the leg stump, handing England their second wicket of the session.
From this troubling spot, Jemimah Rodrigues and Mandhana guided India to a more controlling position, scoring over a run a ball. Rodrigues faced criticism for her slower strike rate during the T20 World Cup, but that stop-start approach was incredibly effective with the limitless structure of Test cricket.
Mandhana was just frustrating England, who could not produce any strategy to disturb her, as she continued to attack every loose ball, which was coming in often with England’s constant rotation. Crossing 50 runs for the third wicket, a slower outswinger from Issy Wong forced Rodrigues to come out for a cover drive, exposing her guard and leading to an inside edge that clattered into the stumps to end her promising innings on 35.
Going into the afternoon session, Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur found herself in a similar situation to Rodrigues. Kaur was also scrutinized for her slow strike rate during the T20 World Cup, with the added pressure of her inconsistent results as captain and age. She put both doubts to rest with the bat in the second session. Kaur played with no strings attached, comfortably taking on the English gauntlet. She commanded the fifty-run stand between her and Mandhana and crossed the half ton mark herself, showcasing some textbook play in the offside.
Wong was however looking more dangerous with the ball in this session, still offering that slow and late swing, she finally got England the breakthrough with Mandhana’s wicket. A wider delivery with reduced movement, Mandhana forced herself out too much and nicked it to a standing up Jones behind the stumps, ending her hopes to be the first woman on the Lord’s honors board on 83.
Mady Villiers tossed up slow spin, and Filer reverse swinging with the aged ball, England began to build pressure back. The heatwave also started to kick in well into the afternoon for the players, as Kaur found herself in great discomfort with her hamstring. Villiers finished the session in style, ending the struggling Kaur’s innings on 58 with a finger spin into the stumps, her first Test wicket, as India headed into tea at 202/5.
Moving into the final session, India went into survival mode after losing their set batters. Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh did their level best to maintain the run rate, true to their usual lower middle order charge roles. But England anticipated that play, setting a defensive field and Filer exploited Ghosh, getting her to pull towards Wong charging in from fine leg for the sixth dismissal.
Yet Deepti didn’t slow down, attacking with her sweeps rather than running between the wickets. She completed her half-century in swift fashion but as she did, Sneh Rana, attempting to emulate her, was LBW courtesy of Villiers. Sophie Ecclestone was having a difficult day with the ball, but had her moment of vindication with her own LBW of Sayali Satgrahe who was trying to set up a brick wall following Deepti’s onslaught.
The toppling had begun. Ecclestone got her second, making Deepti swing it to Heather Knight at short mid-wicket, ending her boom of 57. The scalp made her England’s highest wicket taker in international cricket. Ecclestone finished the job two balls later, turning in with a doosra to bowl Kranti Gaud, ending India’s innings on 285.
The volatile track came into India’s aid early on. Gaud’s inswinger bounced low, striking Tammy Beaumont’s pads to give India their first wicket. A disappointing walk back for Beaumont in her penultimate innings for England. Gaud nearly had a second, with the dangerous Knight trapped for an LBW which the umpire said not out to, and India did not review. Upon replay it showed that a review would have sent Knight packing on just one run. With 87 overs bowled on the opening day, England finished on 21/1, trailing India by 264 runs heading into the weekend.
What they said
Deepti Sharma, India: (On the strategy for tomorrow) “There’s a turn (to the pitch). It’s very important to put you in the right areas. We will have to put in big spells. We are ready for that. The wicket is such that you will get help from somewhere.”
“We just have to back each other. The more balls we put in the partnership, the better it will be for tomorrow.”
Issy Wong, England: (On dismissing Mandhana) “I sort of made the conscious decision to come round (the wicket), and I used my wobble ball a bit from round, and I looked at it, and I thought, that’s shiny, that would swing.”
“Smriti (Mandhana) batted so well, and I think as a bowler, when someone’s looking as comfortable as she was looking, it’s about, how can I unsettle them here, and maybe that’s, you know, coming round, maybe that’s holding the seam up, maybe it’s, you know, cross-seaming it for a little bit, and just try and unsettle their rhythm. Did I mean it to be as wide as it did? No, I hoped it would have swung, but I’m very happy with the result.”
