So a record victory for India in two and a bit days, the second English innings skittled out in less than an (extended) session. Heather Knight called the conditions “extreme”, and there was certainly turn and bounce, but England also didn’t help themselves with a number of rash shots as panic rolled through the card, tightening shoulders and freezing minds.
For India, this is epic – especially with a one-off Test against Australia only four days away. If the BCCI like what they see, this could be a game changer for women’s Test cricket. Not that many were in the ground to see it, which was a shame, be interesting to see if any more turn up against the Aussies.
Deepti Sharma walks away beladen with gongs, Charlie Dean and Lauren Bell with their reputations enhanced. I’m going to grab a final cup of coffee before heading back to bed. Thanks for your company during the small hours – see you back here for India v Australia on December 21st. Have a lovely day.
Harmanpreet: “I am feeling great, everything went according to plan. Each player took responsibility. [Why bat on?]The first 40 minutes were very crucial and we felt if we could get three or four wicket in the first 40 minutes so that was the most important.”
Harmanpreet is awarded the trophy then runs over to the waiting team, gives the trophy to the three debutants in the middle, then shuffles in at the corner of the group as they all celebrate.
Anjum Chopra talks to Heather Knight: “I think India played outstandingly, made it really tough for us. I feel like if we had another Test match in India we’d be better placed.
“The conditions were extreme there, something we’re not used to, we came out a bit better today in terms of our intent but India bowled even a bit better today. A lot of learning for us.
“I think we had some brilliant performances, Charlie Dean bowled brilliantly amd Lauren Bell – the way she moved the ball and her consistency, a real highlight for us. It’s been an awesome experience to play a Test match in India and I think if we come back in nine years – I’m unlikely to be here – we’ll have learnt alot.”
Deepti Sharma takes three awards in various categories for her all-round performance of 9-39 in the match plus 87 runs.
Technically, that was a three-day Test.
— Being Outside Cricket (@OutsideCricket) December 16, 2023
England women haven't won a Test match since 2014, before they first received full time central contracts. Not a single Test victory in the professional era. #INDvENG https://t.co/PMVDnGhW7r
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“Play will extend for an extra half hour.” writes Damien Clarke. “Wishful, perhaps?” Very good.
Amol Muzumdar, the smiling India coach, does the media duties. “Absolutely brilliant stuff for the two and a half days. No Test match is easy but the efforts that the girls put in, getting together before the Test at Wankhede and the preparation was nice to result into this win. We had thought that we’d play in a certain fashion and I’d want them to continue to do that. We didn’t plan to score 400 on the first day. It’s a good sign for Indian cricket, all of them who made their debut.
“England are a top side, but these youngsters they just got a taste of what Test cricket is all about. [On Deepti] I jokingly call her the Ben Stokes of the team. Nine wickets and a fifty, she is an important cog in the wheel.
“We have a back to back Test match, playing Australia in four days time, never happened before, we are looking forward to that.”
India win by 347 runs!
27.3 overs: England 131 all out( Dean 20) The first time India have beaten England in a Test in India. The b ggest victory in the history of women’s Test cricket. A first Test win for Harmanpreet Kaur. An proper old fashioned slippering for England.
WICKET! Bell c Rodrigues b Rajeshwari 8 (England 131 all out) India win by 347 runs!
A prop forward, a leading edge, a peach of a catch at silly point!
27th over: England 123-9 ( Dean 20, Bell 0) A top-edge reverse-sweep from Dean to Deepti goes for four, a sweep brings two. Raf was saying on Talksport how she thinks Dean is a better batter than England give her credit for, and by this showing she’s right. Four byes then four more for Dean from a stylish cut. A stony-faced Harmanpreet shakes her head. Hard taskmaster.
26th over: England 109-9 ( Dean 10, Bell 0) Rajeshwari again. Dean blocks out four, they take the single off the fifth. Play will extend for an extra half hour for England to polish things off.
25th over: England 108-9 ( Dean 9, Bell 0) Just a double-wicket maiden. Deepti now has 7-2-22-4 to go with 5.3-4-7-5 in the first innings.
WICKET! Filer b Deepti 0 (England 108-9)
Er…. and again! Filer decides attack is the best form of defence, charges the bull and hears the death rattle.
WICKET! Cross b Deepti 16 (England 108-8)
Cross rocks back to cut, the ball zips in, under the bat, and crunch go the Christmas breadsticks.
24th over: England 108-7 ( Dean 9, Cross 16) Rajeshwari, headband, the iconic number one shirt. Dean totally beaten as she pushes forward and the keeper puts her head in her hand.
23rd over: England 105-7 ( Dean 7, Cross 15) Deepti again. Cross sweeps and gets a top-edge, but it flies over the field to settle just in front of the boundary rope.
22nd over: England 101-7 ( Dean 6, Cross 12) Lovely flight from Rajeshwari, Cross brings up the hundred with a crisp sweep for four.
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21st over: England 95-7 ( Dean 6, Cross 6) Deepti wheels in. Don’t quote on me this, but Cross and Dean seem more comfortable than quite a few who’ve gone before. Dean shimmies one off the ankles for four. A huge, prolonged appeal by Deepti for lbw, but Harmanpreet has been burnt twice before this morning and refuses.
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20th over: England 90-7 ( Dean 2, Cross 5) A couple off Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s over, and survival.
19th over: England 88-7 ( Dean 2, Cross 4) Deepti has Dean in all sorts of trouble, but she escapes to the other end and then Cross tucks into a full toss “At least you’ll be able to go back to bed for a few hours in a minute,” writes Alex Redwood. Rather hoping someone else in the house will wake up soon and put the kettle on.
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18th over: England 83-7 ( Dean 0, Cross 0) Another wicket maiden.
WICKET! Ecclestone b Rajeshwari 10 (England 83-7)
Goes for the hoopla sweep but picks the wrong line and loses her coconuts.
17th over: England 83-6 ( Ecclestone 10, Dean 0) Wicket maiden.
Updated
WICKET! Jones c Shafali b Deepti 5 (England 83-6)
And so the cards tumble. Jones plays kind of cramped pull but it goes nowhere and is collected by the waiting Shafali Verma at midwicket.
16th over: England 83-5 (Jones 5, Ecclestone 10) Two fours for Ecclestone off Vastrakar, one an edge sliding through second slip, another pulled away with some style.
Time for an email. “Good (ridiculously) early morning, Tanya!” Lovely to hear from you Martin Wright.
“You have a faithful hound there, I have a wakeful kitten here, who desperately wants to play despite it being Stupid O’Clock... And the mind turning as it does, I found myself noticing the keepers in the women’s game increasingly wear their pads inside their trousers. Is this A Thing these days? And if so, will the men’s game start adopting it? It looks neater and seems more functional - but are the presumably slimline pads tough enough to withstand some 90mph thunderbolts?
“(I’ve been troubled by darker middle-of-the-night thoughts in my time, but that’ll do for now...).
“Keep mainlining that coffee!” They’re a bit Jack Grealish aren’t they! I’m not sure about the pads to be honest, but it must make it a hell of a lot easier to move about. Hello to the playful kitten, hope she likes England collapses.
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15th over: England 73-5 (Jones 4, Ecclestone 1) Deepti repeating her first innings magic. Ecclestone come in and sweeps with the opposite of conviction. Jones rocks back to force one away for four off the last ball for some light relief.
WICKET! Wyatt c Rana b Sharma 12 (England 68-5)
Super catch at slip as Wyatt pushes forward in lead boots and Rana picks up low with silk hands.
14th over: England 61-3 (Wyatt 12, Jones 0) Vastrakar, short spiky hair, shaved back of the head, pink sleeves: unplayable! Gorgeous ball to Knight, wicket maiden.
Updated
WICKET! Knight c Yastika b Vastraka 21 (England 68-4)
Pushes forward at one that nips away, and Yastika does the business behind the stumps.
13th over: England 68-3 (Knight 21, Wyatt 12) Here comes Deepti! Knight seems to make a premeditated decision to reverse sweep her first ball but misses completely and is hit on the front pad. Harmanpreet takes an age to review, but with the seconds ticking down eventually does so, unenthusiastically. Ball would have bounced over, and wide of leg stump. England continue to sweep at Deepti throughout the over, but it’s a strategy that doesn’t look completely convincing.
WICKET! Wyatt lbw Vastrakar (England 61-3)
12th over: England 61-3 (Knight 19, Wyatt 10) A very, very, lucky escape for Danni Wyatt who reviews an lbw given out on the field with a shrug but is saved by a ball that hits her high on the pad but replays show fizzing past leg stump. Vastrakar can’t believe it, nor can I!
“Can only imagine what Nat said to Heather when she came out… writes Chris Lawrence, “probably not “watch me go out with a golden duck” … ouch.
11th over: England 57-3 (Knight 19, Wyatt 6) Knight picks off three fours from a tiring Renuka, who tucks her necklace back into her shirt and wipes the sweat away. Belatedly, I remember to check my inbox. Hello Phil Withall!
“Afternoon Tanya, from an oppressively humid Brisbane..
“Good to see England off to a positive start. I shall allow myself an hour of unrealistic optimism before I return to my default position of unrelenting pessimism.
“It’s nice to try something new every now and again...”
I hope you enjoyed your 35 minutes or so…
10th over: England 43-3 (Knight 4, Wyatt 6) What a bowling change! Vastrakar bouncing for joy. Wyatt avoids the hat-trick ball and a swarm of close fielders by driving square for two. Out on the boundary, Jon Lewis is stony faced.
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WICKET! Nat Sciver-Brunt b Vastrakar 0 (England 37-3)
First ball! Pushes forward, ball full, nips in and pickpockets off stump.
WICKET! Dunkley c Harleen (sub) b Vastrakar (England 37-2)
Eyes light up, cuts, hard, straight into the bread basket of Harleen in the gully.
9th over: England 35-1 (Dunkley 14, Knight 4) Ooof, Knight pushes forward and gets an outside edge just, only just, between two prowling slips for four. Next ball a big lbw shout… are they going to review? They like it….and after a swarm of players gather in the middle… they do…but it pitches outside the line.
8th over: England 31-1 (Dunkley 14, Knight 0) Dunkley drives a fuller one from Rana for four, everything else defended carefully away.
WICKET! Beaumont b Renuka 17 (England 27-1)
Beaumont went back, the ball nipped in through the door and stole the television.
7th over: England 27-1 (Dunkley 10, Knight 0) The highest successful run-chase in women’s cricket history is 198 against England at Sydney in 2011. A huge roar, but an optimistic one, as Renuka thuds a slower ball into Beaumont’s pads, but the next ball, a cracker, knocks back off stump.
6th over: England 27-0 (Dunkley 10, Beaumont 17) England easily pick off a handful of singles off Rana, as their teammates watch from the boundary edge, a crossword between them.
5th over: England 23-0 (Dunkley 7, Beaumont 16) Cracking square cut for four and then a dirty ball pulled for four with a great table spoon of aplomb. Super start this.
4th over: England 15-0 (Dunkley 7, Beaumont 8) A smiling Rana making the ball sing. Beaumont flays at Rana and gets four, and another just beats the the grasping short leg.
3rd over: England 10-0 (Dunkley 7, Beaumont 3) If you’re awake – intentionally or not – do drop me a line, I’d love to hear from you. It’s just me and the hound on the sofa, as Renuka winds through another over.
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2nd over: England 7-0 (Dunkley 7, Beaumont 0) England didn’t have to wait too long for spin: Sneh Rana has the ball. Dunkley straight onto the attack, lapping at the first two shots, bringing a boundary, and then a field change.
England need 479 to win
1st over: England 1-0 (Dunkley 1, Beaumont 0) Renuka has the new ball. A neat first over on a beautiful morning.
The excellent Anjum Chopra and Murali Kartik are examining the pitch: hmm, maybe not great news for England. “It is quite tufty and quite a few craters.” The players are out in the middle – here we go…
India declare!
Coffee ready? Soon we’ll begin. Nineteen wickets fell yesterday – the second most ever in a women’s Test. Then India built the highest ever chase in the women’s game – 478 - and that’s where it will stay as they’ve just declared, leaving England 479 runs to win!
Radio coverage
Talking of Raf, you can now listen to her on Talk Sport, who are covering the remainder of the Test.
🚨𝑨𝙉𝑵𝙊𝑼𝙉𝑪𝙈𝑬𝙉𝑻 🚨
— talkSPORT Cricket (@Cricket_TS) December 15, 2023
🎙️@talksport will bring you the conclusion of the #INDvENG 🏴🇮🇳TEST:
✅ Every ball live & exclusive on @talkSPORT2
✅@RafNicholson & Phoebe Graham join the team
➕more!
We're on air at 3:55am tomorrow🙌
📻Listen here: https://t.co/0yjDc8sYXv… pic.twitter.com/eXjyyJ8D8t
Here is Raf’s report from yesterday:
Preamble
Hello! Welcome to day three of this one-off Test between England and India. It is likely to be the final day after England’s implosion on Friday afternoon – from 79-2 to 136 all out, spectacularly losing the last six wickets for just ten runs.
A beaming Deepti Sharma led India off, bounce, turn and five for seven in her pocket, to add to her half century in the first innings .
There wasn’t really anywhere for England to go from there – but India took a quick kill off the table by not immediately enforcing the follow-on. Instead they took their lead to 478 with the addition of 182 quick second-innings runs, Sharma again looking good.
There were a couple of bright spots for England - four wickets for Charlie Dean, and a half-century for Nat Sciver-Brunt – but otherwise the day was an illustration of frailty against spin – exploited by Ash Gardener in the Ashes series, by Sri Lanka last September, and now India.
Can England last the day? In the spirit of Christmas optimism, let’s not comment on that. Time for coffee – meet you back here for the start, play resumes at 04:00 GMT / 09:30 IST.
