Key events
14th over: England 109-4 (Jones 32, Capsey 5) Jones is moving through the gears. She punishes two low full tosses from Deepti, carting both between deep square and deep midwicket for four.
Thirteen runs from the over, which is pretty much what Ehgland need from hereon in.
13th over: England 96-4 (Jones 21, Capsey 4) Jones turns a poor over for England into an okay one, swiping Reedy’s final ball over wide mid-on for four. That’s a really classy shot. But England still need 86 from 42 balls to win.
12th over: England 89-4 (Jones 16, Capsey 1) It was an outstanding piece of fielding from Sneh Rana to get rid of Beaumont. First she made an excellent sprawling stop at backward point; then she had the awareness and strength to fire the throw into Yadav despite being off balance. Great frielding.
WICKET! England 87-4 (Beaumont run out 54)
Gone! Beaumont hesitates for a split-second over a single to point, and that proves fatal when Rana’s throw is well taken on the bounce by the bowler Yadav. She breaks the stumps with Beaumont short of her ground despite a desperate dive.
Fifty from Tammy Beaumont
11th over: England 82-3 (Beaumont 50, Jones 14) Urgh, apologies, we are having more technical problems. Beaumont has just worked Charani for a single to bring up a highly skilful half-century, her first in a T2o international for four years, from 33 balls.
Drinks: England need 106 from 60 balls
10th over: England 76-3 (Beaumont 45, Jones 13) Tammy Beaumont is dragging England back into this game. She lashes three successive boundaries off Rana, the best a beautiful ping over cover point. Rana’s first over cost 1; the second has gone for 16. Time for drinks.
9th over: England 60-3 (Beaumont 30, Jones 13) Beaumont is dropped, a very tough return chance to the bowler Amanjot. That looked extremely painful, and Amanjot needs to take a moment before finishing her over.
Beaumont skips down to chip stylishly down the ground for four. She looks in excellent touch. Jones, who has taken a bit longer to get going, pulls firmly for her first boundary with the aid of a misfield on the boundary sponge.
8th over: England 48-3 (Beaumont 24, Jones 8) The offspinner Sneh Rana becomes the sixth bowler of the innings in just the eighth over. We’re having a few technical problems but the bald numbers suggest a superb start – only one run from the over. England need 134 from 72 balls.
7th over: England 47-3 (Beaumont 23, Jones 8) On comes Radha Yadav, another left-arm spinner, and Beaumont drags a sweep round the corner for four. It’s a no-ball, too, which means a free hit. Beaumont takes advantage, wiping the first six of the innings into the crowd at long-on.
It’s rare for a bowler to end an over strongly and concede 15, but that’s what happens here: 12 from the first two (legal) deliveries, three from the last four.
6th over: England 32-3 (Beaumont 11, Jones 6) Deepti Sharma completes a triumphant Powerplay – for her and India – with an over that yields six singles.
At the same stage India were 35 for 3 so it’s pretty much neck and neck. Right?
5th over: England 26-3 (Beaumont 8, Jones 3) Heather Knight, who has been as good as you’d expect in the Sky commentary box, says England will be encouraged by the pattern of India’s innings and that a required rate of 10 per over won’t concern them, even with so many overs left.
Tammy Beaumont wipes four off the requirement with her first boundary, panned through the covers off the new bowler Arundhati Reddy.
4th over: England 19-3 (Beaumont 2, Jones 2) England need – gulp – 163 from 16 overs.
WICKET! England 17-3 (Sciver-Brunt c Harmanpreet b Amanjot 13)
And it’s goodnight from England. Amanjot Kaur, who is having a wonderful night, gets some extra bounce to Sciver-Brunt, who flat-bats the ball to Harmanpreet at mid-on. That feels like the killer blow, even with more than 16 overs remaining.
3rd over: England 16-2 (Sciver-Brunt 13, Beaumont 1) Shree Charani, the left-arm spinner who took four for 12 on debut at Trent Bridge, comes into the attack. Sciver-Brunt, who is so good at staying in her bubble regardless of the match situation, gets England up and running with three boundaries in the over: a lofted drive, a flick-pull and a dragged sweep through mid-on. She’s a genius, the end.
2nd over: England 4-2 (Sciver-Brunt 1, Beaumont 1) A very full ball from Deepti leads to an LBW appeal against Sciver-Brunt, but it was going down and Deepti was signalling as much almost before the umpire said not out.
WICKET! England 2-2 (Wyatt-Hodge c Harmanpreet b Deepti 1)
It is happening again. Wyatt-Hodge whirls Deepti Sharma’s first ball straight to mid-off, and England are two for two after losing two wickets in two balls. I doubt even Richie Benaud could make a virtue of that position.
1st over: England 2-1 (Wyatt-Hodge 1, Sciver-Brunt 0) That was the last ball of the over.
WICKET! England 2-1 (Dunkley run out 1)
A nightmare start for England. Dunkley sets off for a tight single to mid-off and is rightly sent back. But by then it’s already too late: Ghosh collects Deepti’s fast throw and breaks the stumps to give India a perfect start.
It’s a very short turnaround between innings, so short that England’s runchase is about to begin.
England need 182 to win
20th over: India 181-4 (Amanjot 63, Ghosh 32) Amanjot and Ghosh completes a stunning fightback with three boundaries between them in Em Arlott’s final over of the innings. My word, that was devastating stuff: India scored 117 from the last 10 overs and 143 from the last 13.
19th over: India 168-4 (Amanjot 58, Ghosh 24) Despite another boundary from Amanjot, Bell’s penultimate over is a good one for England – eight from it, and she finishes with outstanding figures of 4-0-17-2.
18th over: India 160-4 (Amanjot 52, Ghosh 22) Ghosh thrases successive boundaries off Ecclestone, the second a savage blow through backward point. Nine from the over, which isn’t too bad in the circumstances, and Ecclestone finishes with 4-0-30-0.
Fifty for Amanjot Kaur
17th over: India 151-4 (Amanjot 52, Ghosh 13) This is starting to get very messy for England. Ghosh reverse sweeps for four, then top-edges a sweep straight to Beaumont… who drops a pretty simple catch.
A gorgeous drive through extra cover brings up Amanjot’s fifty, a high-class, perfectly paced innings: 35 balls, seven fours.
Linsey Smith is having another tough day: her figures are 3-0-37-0 in this game and 6-0-78-0 in the series.
16th over: India 138-4 (Amanjot 45, Ghosh 7) Ghosh tries to pull Filer, is beaten for pace and top-edges a boundary over the head of Beaumont at short third. That could be a big moment because Ghosh can be devastating at the death.
Amanjot struck a more deliberate boundary earlier in the over, pulling meatily through backward square. She’s played beautifully.
15th over: India 126-4 (Amanjot 39, Ghosh 1) The new batter is the very dangerous Richa Ghosh. Nat Sciver-Brunt has just returned to the field; I must confess, amid the carnage I didn’t realise she’d gone off. No word yet as to why she did so.
WICKET! India 124-4 (Rodrigues c Dunkley b Bell 63)
Girl did England need that. Rodrigues cuffs a very wide slower ball into the covers, where Dunkley makes ground and swoops to her left to take an excellent two-handed catch.
Rodrigues gets a fine hand after a blistering knock: 63 from 41 balls, including 33 from the last 14. It was an excellent piece of bowling from Bell, who saw her Rodrigues moving across her stumps and changed her line accordingly.
14th over: India 123-3 (Rodrigues 63, Amanjot 38) Amanjot guides Linsey Smith’s first ball carefully past backward point for four. Smith does well to make that the only boundary of the over – yet it still costs 10 in total. India, who were 38 for 3 after seven overs, have hit 85 for 0 in the last seven.
13th over: India 113-3 (Rodrigues 59, Amanjot 32) Amanjot continues a dramatic assault from India by hitting Ecclestone’s first two deliveries for four. The first was sliced uppishly and just cleared the diving backward point; the second was a firm sweep past short fine leg.
Amanjot and Rodrigues exchange singles before Amanjot slams a cut stroke for yet another boundary. This is remarkable stuff: India, who were behind the game at drinks, have hit 49 in three overs.
Jemimah Rodrigues strums a brilliant fifty
12th over: India 98-3 (Rodrigues 58, Amanjot 18) Rodrigues ramps Filer to move to 49, then takes two to reach a superb half-century from 33 balls. Never mind ramps, Rodrigues is rampant. She lofts four more over the solitary slip, then slashes the third boundary of the over.
Rodrigues has hit 28 off her last seven deliveries.
11th over: India 80-3 (Rodrigues 45, Amanjot 15) Rodrigues is hit on the helmet by Arlott, which leads to a break in play while she undergoes a concussion check. Rodrigues passes that, and proves she’s absolutely fine by smashing 14 off the last three balls of the over. What glorious batting: a drive over long-on for six, another over mid-off for four and then a sweep over backward square.
10th over: India 64-3 (Rodrigues 30, Amanjot 14) Another good, thrifty over from Ecclestone ends with a big-spinning delivery that beats Amanjot’s attempted sweep.
Time for drinks. England are on top at the quarter-way mark of the game, though not by that much.
9th over: India 61-3 (Rodrigues 28, Amanjot 13) Rodrigues had a bit of difficult against Filer’s short stuff, but that aside she has played beautifully. She hits her fourth four, making room to clobber Em Arlott back over her head.
The counter-attack has started; India have scored 23 from the last two overs.
8th over: India 52-3 (Rodrigues 21, Amanjot 11) Not such a good start for Linsey Smith, who is targeted from ball one. Rodrigues drives her classily over extra cover for four; Amanjot lofts an even better boundary over mid-off. Three singles and a three make it 14 from the over.
7th over: India 38-3 (Rodrigues 15, Amanjot 3) Sophie Ecclestone comes into the attack. Plenty of focus on here given recent events, and a difficult afternoon at Trent Bridge. She starts nicely, conceding three and having an appeal for LBW turned down against Rodrigues. Bat and pad were fairly close together but replays showed it came straight off the bat.
6th over: India 35-3 (Rodrigues 14, Amanjot 1) The new batter Amanjot Kaur tries to pull a short ball from Bell that zips past the top edge. England’s intensity in the field has been impressive, especially after such a flat performance on Saturday.
WICKET! India 31-3 (Harmanpreet c Filer b Bell 1)
The captain Harmanpreet is now the old batter. She has gone second ball, caught at short fine leg by Lauren Filer. It wasn’t the greatest piece of cricket: a poor ball from Lauren Bell, who celebrated sheepishly, a pull round the corner from Harmanpreet and an untidy catch from Filer. Untidy but clean: Harmanpreet has gone and England have taken three big wickets in the Powerplay.
5th over: India 31-2 (Rodrigues 12, Harmanpreet 1) The captain Harmanpreet is the new batter.
WICKET! India 30-2 (Mandhana c Bell b Arlott 13)
Never mind the ground fielding, England’s catching is much sharper as well! Mandhana clothed the new bowler Arlott towards mid-on, where Bell leapt backwards to take a brilliant two-handed catch.
4th over: India 24-1 (Mandhana 13, Rodrigues 7) Rodrigues square-drives Filer with a flourish to score her first boundary. That was a rare full delivery in another aggressive over from Filer, who twice beat Rodrigues with short balls outside off stump.
This has been a good start from England, whose ground fielding has also looked much sharper than it did on Saturday.
3rd over: India 19-1 (Mandhana 13, Rodrigues 2) Lauren Bell, England’s best bowler by a distance at Trent Bridge, replaces Capsey. There’s some gentle inswing to the left-handed Mandhana, who punches a couple of drives without beating the infield. A good start from Bell, just two from the over.
2nd over: India 17-1 (Mandhana 12, Rodrigues 1) Jemima Rodridgues gets off the mark with a mistimed shot that lands safely on the leg side. Terrific start from Filer, who gave both Verma and Rodrigues the hurry-up.
WICKET! India 14-1 (Verma c Jones b Filer 3)
This is seriously good fast bowling from Lauren Filer. She beat the edge with a beauty, then rammed in a superb short ball that followed Verma, took the glove and was comfortably caught by Amy Jones.
Verma was on the walk, which only made life difficult as the ball roared towards her, but it would have been very tough to deal even if she’d stayed in her crease.
1st over: India 11-0 (Mandhana 10, Verma 1) Smriti Mandhana picks up where she left off at Trent Bridge, hitting two elegant boundaries – one through the covers, one through point – in Alice Capsey’s first over. Eleven from the over, which makes Mandhana and Shafali Verma the most productive opening partnership in Women’s T20I history.
Time for the action. It’s a gorgeous evening in Bristol, warm without being oppressive. The TV commentators are discussing their surprise at England’s decision to bowl first.
Team news: England unchanged
England are unchanged, which gives their XI the chance to right Saturday’s wrongs.
India do change a winning side, but only to bring back their captain Harmanpreet Kaur in place of Harleen Deol.
England Dunkley, Wyatt-Hodge, Sciver-Brunt (c), Beaumont, Jones (wk), Capsey, Arlott, Ecclestone, Filer, Smith, Bell.
India Mandhana, Verma, Harmanpreet (c), Rodrigues, Amanjot, Ghosh (wk), Deepti, Yadav, Reddy, Rana, Charani.
England win the toss and bowl
Bristol is cooler than much of the country, around 25 degrees, so England are happy to field first. The pitch looks very dry so there was a decent case for batting first, but most teams prefer to chase these days.
Harmanpreet back for India
The word is that Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who missed Saturday’s game because of a head injury, has been passed fit to return tonight.
Preamble
The road to success is never a straight line, but nobody expected England to veer so dramatically off course at the start of their T20 series against India. Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side were pulverised by 97 runs at Trent Bridge on Saturday, their heaviest T20 defeat, with the peerless Smriti Mandhana striking a glorious 112.
Adversity is usually a window into the soul of a person or a team. How England respond tonight, and for the rest of this five-match series, will increase our understanding of the journey that faces them: how far they have to travel, and how long it might take them.