That’s all for today, but Geoff and Tim will be here tomorrow for the men’s ODI. Thanks for your company – bye!
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A bit of post-match reading
Heather Knight speaks to Sky Sports
It was a good toss to win. The ball nipped around a bit and the bowlers made the most of it. Kate Cross will probably go under the radar but she was back to her best today. Mahika bowled some magic balls; she’s a really exciting prospect and I’m really pleased for her. Lauren Filer’s a crowd favourite and gets everyone up and about. Yeah, really nice.
It’s quite rare to have three debutants, and I thought all of them were very good. Mahika swings the ball late, which I think is a key attribute; Big Fil bowling her pace and it was nice for Bouch to get some time in the middle.
Tammy and Lamby batted really positively. I wouldn’t change our approach at all.
England gave ODI debuts to two exciting fast bowlers today and each of them took three wickets. #MahikaGaur and #LaurenFiler are so young that if you add their ages together (17 + 22), they're still two years younger than Jimmy Anderson #ENGvSL
— Tim de Lisle (@TimdeLisle) September 9, 2023
Chamari Atapaththu’s verdict
It’s been a tough day at the office. Mahika and Kate Cross bowled really well in the first hour and put us under pressure. We didn’t handle that pressure in the middle overs; that’s why we struggled. We needed 250-260. Patience is very important on this kind of wicket. But we have a very positive mindset and I know we can bounce back in the next game.
The player of the match is Mahika Gaur
It was a great day, I really enjoyed myself out there and it was great to get a win as well. I’ve not played much 50-over cricket but my approach doesn’t change much – I just try to bowl my best ball for longer.
I’ve been in England for a year since moving back. Martin Speight [Gaur’s coach at Sedbergh School] has been great with me so it’s nice that he could be here today to watch me make my debut.
That was more of a half-day international, with the match done and dusted in 48.2 overs. England were far too good for Sri Lanka, who were behind the game from the moment 17-year-old Mahika Gaur bowled Chamari Athapaththu with a beautiful outswinger in the fifth over.
England win by seven wickets with 192 balls to spare!
18th over: England 107-3 (Boucher 17, Sciver-Brunt 2) The debutant Maia Bouchier hits the winning runs, timing Athapaththu between mid off and extra cover for four. It’s been an extremely good day for England’s ODI debutants: Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer took three wickets apiece and now Bouchier has had the final word.
17th over: England 99-3 (Boucher 11, Sciver-Brunt 0) That was the last ball of the over. England need eight to win.
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WICKET! England 99-3 (Knight c Sanjeewani b Dilhari 22)
Heather Knight falls in strange circumstances. She tried to sweep the offspinner Dilhari, was too early on the shot and gloved the ball down the leg side to Sanjeewani.
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16th over: England 96-2 (Knight 21, Bouchier 10) The next match is at Northampton on Tuesday, with the third and final ODI in Leicester two days later.
A no-ball from Ranasinghe means a free hit for Bouchier. She surveys the field and then launches a cross bat shot over mid-off for four. The game is almost done, but we’re going to have a drinks break.
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15th over: England 86-2 (Knight 18, Bouchier 4) Knight drives Ranaweera sweetly through the covers for four, then does it again next ball. Twenty-one to win.
14th over: England 77-2 (Knight 9, Bouchier 4) The new batter is the debutant Maia Bouchier, and she gets off the mark with an elegant drive to the left of mid-off for four.
WICKET! England 73-2 (Lamb c de Silva b Ranasinghe 27)
A frustrating end for Emma Lamb, who tries to go down the ground but scoops the ball straight to mid-off. She played well for her 27 but has missed the chance of some restorative red ink.
13th over: England 73-1 (Lamb 27, Knight 9)
12th over: England 70-1 (Lamb 25, Knight 8) Knight drives Ranasinghe elegantly through the covers for four. Lamb looks happy to play a supporting role, as she did with Beaumont. After the summer she’s had, a run-stroll like this is perfect.
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11th over: England 64-1 (Lamb 24, Knight 3) Heather Knight gets off the mark with a slice over slip for two. That’s a good first over from Ranaweera, who is such a crafty left-arm spinner. England need 43 to win; the required rate 1.1 per over.
WICKET! England 61-1 (Beaumont c Perera b Ranaweera 32)
Inoka Ranaweera strikes first ball! Tammy Beaumont tried to cut a ball that was too tight for the shot and edged it to the right of slip, where Hasini Perera dived to take a terrific catch. Beaumont goes for a breezy 31-ball 32, and I can stop looking up when England last won an ODI by 10 wickets.
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10th over: England 61-0 (Lamb 23, Beaumont 32) Sri Lanka can’t stem the flow. Beaumont cracks Athapaththu to the cover fence, the eighth four in the last 22 deliveries, before Lamb steals a second run to long on.
In other news, pay the umpire.
9th over: England 51-0 (Lamb 21, Beaumont 26) Prabodhani returns to the attack. Beaumont jumps all over her, cutting and driving the first two deliveries for four. She’s timing it sweetly now: 5 from the first 13 deliveries, 21 from the last 13.
Lamb brings up the fifty partnership – and completes a very good over for England – with a classy extra-cover drive for four.
8th over: England 36-0 (Lamb 17, Beaumont 15) Chamari Atapaththu brings herself on to bowl a bit of offspin. A harmless first over yields five runs for England, who are a third of the way to their target.
7th over: England 31-0 (Lamb 15, Beaumont 13) Beaumont makes it three successive boundaries for England with a back-foot thump off Ranasinghe. England are cruising now; later in the over Beaumont whips a low full toss for four more.
6th over: England 23-0 (Lamb 15, Beaumont 5) Kulasuriya is bowling a tight line to Beaumont, whose burgeoning frustration manifests itself in a hack to square leg for a single.
Lamb pulls and cuts consecutive boundaries, the first of the England innings, to end the over in style.
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5th over: England 14-0 (Lamb 7, Beaumont 4) No surprise to see Chamari Athapaththu turn to spin very early, with the experienced offie Oshadi Ranasinghe coming into the attack. Beaumont hammers a back-foot drive that is well stopped at extra cover by the diving Prabodhani, so the wait for England’s first boundary goes on.
There’s a gentle enquiry for LBW when Lamb pushes defensively around her front pad. Missing leg.
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4th over: England 12-0 (Lamb 7, Beaumont 3) Beaumont, busy as ever, charges Kulasuriya but can’t beat the fielder at cover. England haven’t got going yet. Given her recent form, you can understand Lamb, in particular, taking her time.
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3rd over: England 12-0 (Lamb 7, Beaumont 2) Prabodhani beats Lamb with a nice delivery, angled across from over the wicket. That’s a much better over, just two from it.
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2nd over: England 9-0 (Lamb 7, Beaumont 1) Achini Kulasuriya shares the new ball. Her ODI record isn’t great – seven wickets at 68 – but she bowls with decent pace and there’s a hint of swing. A misfield allows Beaumont to get off the mark, Lamb plays a nice back cut for two and then a second misfield gives England another run.
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1st over: England 5-0 (Lamb 4, Beaumont 0) The left-arm seamer Udeshika Prabodhani opens the bowling to Emma Lamb, who has had a difficult summer full of single-figure scores. She gets going with a pair of twos to fine leg and deep cover.
Here come the England openers, Emma Lamb and the in-form Tammy Beaumont. Let’s play.
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Thanks Tim, afternoon everyone. How much fun was that? Nothing comes with a guarantee, like the man said, but it’s fair to say Marika Gaur, 17, and Lauren Filer, 22, have the potential to take gazillions of wickets for England over the next two decades.
Gaur has almost everything – height, late swing, left-arm angle – while Filer has the best thing of all: raw pace. In time, we might look back on this as the day the post Shrubsole/Sciver-Brunt era truly began.
"Absolute Jaffa!" 👌
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 9, 2023
Mahika Gaur gets her first ODI wicket for England and what a beauty 😍 pic.twitter.com/OLfyrLnUbO
TWO IN TWO for Lauren FIler! 💥💥 pic.twitter.com/EdI5TPs5s4
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) September 9, 2023
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A tale of two three-fors on debut
So Gaur takes three in her first (England) ODI, just as Lauren Filer did. This time Gaur hits the top of leg, for a change, as she brings the ball back in sharply to the right-handed Prabodhani. It’s the first time two England debutants have taken three wickets in the same women’s ODI.
After a sobering week, England are themselves again. They bowled so well as team that a flat pitch began to resemble a minefield. Gaur took out the openers with her swing, Filer destroyed the middle order with pace and bounce, and the spinners chipped in with Sarah Glenn taking three wickets too.
For Sri Lanka, only Harshitha Samarawickrama got going with a well-judged 35. Their spinners, who befuddled England in the T20s, could yet make a game of it, but the scoreboard is not on their side.
Time for me to make a cheese sandwich. The great Rob Smyth will be with you shortly. Thanks for your company and I’ll be back tomorrow to see if England’s men, too, can bounce back from a bad week at the office.
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WICKET! Prabodhani b Gaur 2 (SL 106 all out)
There it is! A third wicket for Mahika Gaur… a third clean-bowled for Mahika Gaur.
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30th over: Sri Lanka 106-9 (Prabodhani 2, Ranaweera 1) Glenn continues and would have another maiden if it were not for a couple of wides. SL are just sticking around, doing this:
Drinks: England lording it
29th over: Sri Lanka 104-9 (Prabodhani 2, Ranaweera 1) Here is Mahika Gaur, too late now for a five-for, but sniffing a tail-end wicket to go with both openers. Sky do a quick recap of those scalps, plus the cap presentation ceremony: “Katharine Sciver-Brunt there,” says Mark Butcher, “passing on the torch of England fast bowling to Mahika”. She’s still swinging the ball, back into the right-handed Prabodhani, but the batters keep her out.
And that’s drinks, with England so dominant, it’s as if the past week never happened.
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28th over: Sri Lanka 101-9 (Prabodhani 1, Ranaweera 0) A wicket-maiden to Glenn, whose figures are a resplendent 7-1-18-3.
Wicket! Kulasuriya b Glenn 2 (SL 101-9)
The procession continues! Glenn has her third wicket, and yes, it’s a straight one – arrowing in to the left-handed Kulasuriya, too quick and flatfoot her to get anything on it.
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27th over: Sri Lanka 101-8 (Kulasuriya 2, Prabodhani 1) Alice Capsey has her fifth over on the trot and it’s a maiden, so she now has 5-1-12-1. Sri Lanka are in trouble so deep that they may as well have a go, but they show no sign of taking that option yet.
26th over: Sri Lanka 101-8 (Kulasuriya 2, Prabodhani 1) On a day of landmarks, Amy Jones has one too: five catches behind the stumps, a new record for England Women in an ODI. Not even the great Sarah Taylor managed that.
WICKET! Ranasinghe c Jones b Glenn 9 (SL 100-8)
And another! Ranasinghe gets a nick on a cut, Jones holds a fine catch, and Glenn takes a wicket with a straight ball for the second time today. If her name was Shane, she’d have a fancy name for it.
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25th over: Sri Lanka 98-7 (Ranasinghe 9, Kulasuriya 1) Capsey continues, and this time nobody’s arguing… but I would still love to see another burst of Gaur, who could yet end up with a five-wicket haul. And if that doesn’t work, bring back Filer, who could get six.
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24th over: Sri Lanka 96-7 (Ranusinghe 8, Kulasuriya 0) Now Knight does make a bowling change, but she opts to go for spin at both ends. Filer gives way to Sarah Glenn, whose over goes for just a single. SL have plenty of time to play with, but can they do anything with it?
23rd over: Sri Lanka 95-7 (Ranasinghe 7, Kulasuriya 0) I owe Capsey, and Knight, an apology. I was all for bringing back the big gun, Gaur, but keeping Capsey on turned out to be a masterstroke. The ball before the wicket, she had beaten Samarawickrama for bounce, of all things.
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WICKET! Samarawickrama c Jones b Capsey 35 (SL 95-7)
That hundred isn’t going to happen! Capsey persuades Samarawickrama to get a faint tickle down the leg side. Jones does well to hold it, the umpire shakes his head, but England review and Ultra-Edge is on their side. So SL lose their only batter who had managed to stick around.
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22nd over: Sri Lanka 95-6 (Samarawickrama 35, Ranasinghe 7) Filer’s short stuff has been lethal – except when it’s been addressed to Harshitha Samarawickrama, who pulls for three and would have four if it were not for another good save by Maia Bouchier. Samarawickrama then does get four with a feathery glance. She can solve all Sri Lanka’s problems here, just as long as she makes a hundred.
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21st over: Sri Lanka 86-6 (Samarawickrama 27, Ranasinghe 6) Ranasinghe, facing Capsey, plays a sweep for four. It’s a mystery why Capsey is still on – this innings is now unlikely to last longer than 35 overs, so it’s surely time to go in for the kill.
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No hat-trick!
20th over: Sri Lanka 80-6 (Samarawickrama 26, Ranusinghe 1) Wicket, wicket… dot! Filer bowls another good ball, pitched up this time, to the left-hander. Oshadi Ranasinghe, with her vast experience, keeps calm and plays a forward defensive.
Filer has three for 18 and Mahika Gaur, lurking in the deep, is in danger of being upstaged. Get her back on!
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WICKET!! de Silva c Jones b Filer 0 (SL 78-6)
Same again! Filer produces the same ball, maybe a touch closer to the batter, and Nilakshi de Silva can only give Jones more catching practice. Filer, on her ODI debut, is on a hat-trick. She goes quite pink at the thought of it.
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WICKET! Dilhari c Jones b Filer 9 (SL 78-5)
Another one for Filer! And again it’s her bounce that is too much for the batter as this ball climbs on Kavisha Dilhari. She can only fend it off and present Amy Jones with another simple catch.
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19th over: Sri Lanka 78-4 (Samarawickrama 26, Dilhari 9) Knight replaces one spinner with another as Glenn gives way to Alice Capsey’s off-breaks. Like all the bowlers, she makes a disciplined start, going for just four. Not content with introducing a potential superstar, England have bowled well as a team.
18th over: Sri Lanka 74-4 (Samarawickrama 25, Dilhari 6) Filer finishes an otherwise accurate over with her first bad ball – a full toss, which allows Dilhari to play an expert square drive. Sri Lanka could still get 200 here, if they can just put together one big partnership.
17th over: Sri Lanka 68-4 (Samarawickrama 24, Dilhari 2) A better over from Glenn, living up to Dagnall’s billing.
16th over: Sri Lanka 66-4 (Samarawickrama 23, Dilhari 1) Filer had just had a review for LBW against Perera and was denied only by the height. Samarawickrama, the only Sri Lankan to face more than 20 balls today, fights back with a pull for four, but England can easily afford that. They could have a full cordon now, plus a leg slip or two, but Knight, not getting carried away, has just the one slip.
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WICKET! Perera c Jones b Filer 10 (SL 61-4)
More of that debutant delight! Filer’s extra pace unsettles Hasini Perera, who fends at this lifter and gloves it down the leg side.
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15th over: Sri Lanka 61-3 (Samarawickrama 19, Perera 10) Glenn continues with her leg-breaks. “Her control has got so much better over the past 12 months,” says Charlie Dagnall on commentary. Whereupon she bowls her worst ball so far, a wide half-volley that Samarawickrama could drive for four in her sleep.
Drinks: England in charge
14th over: Sri Lanka 55-3 (Samarawickrama 18, Perera 5) England have not produced a seam-bowling debutant for a full hour, so Heather Knight turns to Lauren Filer. At 22, she has already played an Ashes Test. She sticks her elbows out and bowls at a brisk 75mph. Her first ODI over includes a couple of short-pitched deliveries and Samarawickrama copes well, pulling them both for two. That’s drinks, with England still in the driving seat.
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13th over: Sri Lanka 50-3 (Samarawickrama 13, Perera 5) Glenn keeps it tight, going for just three singles. The third one brings up SL’s fifty, off 78 balls. Old-school!
12th over: Sri Lanka 47-3 (Samarawickrama 11, Perera 4) Kate Cross is one of those sportspeople who look as if they just love hard work, which is lucky as Heather Knight is giving her a sixth over on the trot in the heat. It doesn’t go as well as the other five, with a couple of freebies on the pads of these two left-handers. Perera gets going with a deft glance for four off the back foot. Samarawickrama has to settle for three as her more orthodox clip elicits a fine save on the boundary from Maia Bouchier.
11th over: Sri Lanka 40-3 (Samarawickrama 8, Perera 0) After a tough week, everything is suddenly going right for England.
Wicket! Gunaratne LBW b Glenn 9 (SL 40-3)
Another one! Heather Knight turns to spin and it has an instant impact, although this ball doesn’t actually turn. It goes straight on, Gunaratne misses as she tries to work it to leg, and it’s a very plumb plumb.
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Powerplay ends: England on top
10th over: Sri Lanka 37-2 (Samarawickrama 5, Gunaratne 9) Cross continues and there’a a raucous appeal for caught behind against the right-handed Gunaratne, but it’s all from behind the stumps – Cross herself isn’t interested, perhaps feeling that the ball flicked the pad. Gunaratne bounces back with an on-drive for four, but the Powerplay ends with England in charge, thanks to Gaur’s star quality and Cross’s steadiness.
9th over: Sri Lanka 31-2 (Samarawickrama 5, Gunaratne 3) Knight still hasn’t made a bowling change, for obvious reasons. Gaur, still finding that swing, beats Samarawickrama outside off, then beats her again. This is like when Jofra Archer first appeared for the men’s team in 2019: a new recruit who turns into an instant senior player. You just hope she has better luck with injuries.
8th over: Sri Lanka 30-2 (Samarawickrama 5, Gunaratne 2) The headlines belong to Gaur, but Cross has played a lovely tune on second fiddle: four overs now, one maiden, none for eight.
7th over: Sri Lanka 27-2 (Samarawickrama 3, Gunaratne 1) The player of the match so far is Mahika Gaur, and she’s 17.
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Wicket! Sanjeewani b Gaur 5 (SL 25-2)
Who needs fielders? She’s done it again! Gaur goes full to the right-handed Sanjeewani, giving the ball plenty of time to swing. It accepts the invitation, curving in late and uprooting middle stump. On her England ODI debut, Mahika Gaur has two for 21.
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6th over: Sri Lanka 22-1 (Sanjeewani 5, Samarawickrama 0) Cross, running in hard in the heat, backs up Gaur’s good work with a maiden to Sanjeewani, who has now faced 19 balls. England on top.
Note to younger readers: this is what men’s ODIs were like until the mid-Nineties, when one nation made them a lot more exciting by teeing off from the start. That nation was Sri Lanka.
5th over: Sri Lanka 22-1 (Sanjeewani 5, Samarawickrama 0) Before the wicket Sanjeewani finally got off the mark with a straight drive off Gaur. Now she finds herself cast as the senior partner.
WICKET! Atapaththu b Gaur 10 (SL 22-1)
The breakthrough! Mahika Gaur’s first ODI wicket for England is the one they most wanted. Gaur produces that swing again, pitching off, hitting off, and the left-handed Atapaththu defends as if it’s heading for middle, which it was when it set off. That is top-class bowling.
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4th over: Sri Lanka 16-0 (Sanjeewani 0, Atapaththu 10) Cross’s second over is much like Gaur’s: several good balls and one bad one, which Atapaththu is good enough to despatch. It’s full and just wide enough to allow her to throw her hands through it and pierce the cover ring. England, as usual, need to get her out.
3rd over: Sri Lanka 12-0 (Sanjeewani 0, Atapaththu 6) After beating the right-handed Sanjeewani in her first over, Gaur beats the left-handed Atapaththu in her second, with another jaffa. But then she gets it wrong with an attempted yorker and Atapaththu takes it on the full, clobbering it away for four. Gaur, undaunted, has an LBW appeal against Sanjeewani. The line is impeccable but the length isn’t full enough to threaten the stumps.
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2nd over: Sri Lanka 6-0 (Sanjeewani 0, Atapaththu 1) The other new-ball bowler is Kate Cross, 14 years Gaur’s senior but also looking to nail down a regular place after often being on the bench. She too finds movement, rather too much to take the edge as Sanjeewani wafts outside off. Before that, Atapaththu picked up the first run off the bat with a tuck to square leg.
1st over: Sri Lanka 5-0 (Sanjeewani 0, Atapaththu 0) Gaur brings swing as well as height. It backfires on her as an early wide swings further after passing the pads, eludes Amy Jones and trickles away to the rope, but later in the over there’s a beauty, pitching on off, lifting and straightening, beating Sanjeewani’s prod and sailing over the stumps.
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The players are out there, their kits as blue as the northern sky. Atapaththu and Sanjeewani exchange several dozen fist bumps while the giant Mahika Gaur marks out her run. She’s 6ft 3, she’s 17, and she’s got plenty of international experience already after playing for UAE.
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Teams in full
Sri Lanka 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Atapaththu (capt), 3 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 4 Hasini Perera, 5 Nilakshi de Silva, 6 Kavisha Dilhari, 7 Anushka Sanjeewani (wkt), 8 Inoka Ranaweera, 9 Oshadi Ranasinghe, 10 Udeshika Prabodhani, 11 Achini Kulasuriya.
England 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Emma Lamb, 3 Heather Knight (capt), 4 Nat Sciver-Brunt, 5 Alice Capsey, 6 Maia Bouchier, 7 Amy Jones (wkt), 8 Sarah Glenn, 9 Kate Cross, 10 Lauren Filer, 11 Mahika Gaur.
Teams in brief: two changes for SL
Chamari Atapahthu, who in my limited experience always sounds as if she’s planning to have a party, is more than happy to bat first, saying the conditions are “really good for batting”. But she shows some steel too, leaving out two members of the history-making XI from the other night. Sugandika Kumari and Inoshi Fernando give way to Oshadi Ranasinghe and Achini Kulasuriya.
Teams in brief: three debutants for England
Knight confirms that Nat Sciver-Brunt is back, but playing only as a batter. England have three players taking part in their first ODI – Maia Bouchier, Lauren Filer and Mahika Gaur.
Toss: England opt to bowl first
Chamari Atapaththu says heads but the coin says tails, so Heather Knight wins the toss. She chooses to chase, feeling that it’s a good wicket and if there’s anything in it for the bowlers, that will be early on.
The heatwave continues. The sun is blazing down, even in Durham.
Preamble
If it’s a new day, it must be a new series. No sooner have the men switched over from T20s to ODIs than the women have to do so too. The difference is that history was made in the women’s T20s. Sri Lanka beat England for the first time ever in a women’s bilateral white-ball series and they did it in style, with their captain and star player, Chamari Atapaththu, leading from the front.
The moment when they won the third game and sealed the series was so good that I found myself filming it off the telly. The whole team ran out to the middle to join the two batters who had got them over the line. You could have turned the Derby floodlights off and lit the ground with their smiles.
The Sri Lankans surely deserved more than two days to bask in the glow of their achievement, but the schedule is an unforgiving bastard, so now they have to start again. This match at Chester-le-Street is the first of three ODIs that will unfold over just six days, with the other games following on Tuesday and Thursday.
For England, it’s a shot at redemption. They will have Tammy Beaumont back, and she may find opening the batting easier than what she had to do in the T20 series – commentating on her team-mates’ struggles. Will they continue to be befuddled by the spinners? Or will they dig deep and reassert themselves? We shall see from 11am BST. I’ll be back at 10.35 or so with news of the toss and teams.
