For England, disaster has been avoided; the series remains alive. Never previously had India conquered these shores in T20I cricket but it looked for a long time that they would do so with two games to spare having dominated the opening two encounters. Yet shorn of their skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt, a rollicking century stand for the first-wicket between Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge just about pushed the hosts out of the reach; though a dreadful collapse and some failings in the field are cause for continuing concern.
When their openers had blasted to 137-0 from 15 overs, Edwards might have expected her side to power out of sight. They did not, a collapse of 9-31 limiting them to a total that India very nearly hauled in – but the side will be better for closing out a close one, Lauren Filer, Issy Wong and Lauren Bell combining cool heads and hostile bowling to hold on. Certainly, it has been inconvenient to lose their two most senior figures to injury this summer, Sciver-Brunt’s groin issue following a hamstring problem for her predecessor Heather Knight, but this is far from a callow side – and yet, just as during the Ashes, they have looked short of the ruthlessness required against the top teams.
