England have it all to do to avoid defeat in the first women’s Test at Lord’s after being bowled out for 170 and ending the second day trailing a dominant India by 269 runs.
Kranti Gaud became the first woman to add her name to the Test honours board at Lord’s as she took five wickets for 37, cutting through England’s top order as the hosts were reduced to 47 for four before skipper Nat Sciver-Brunt and Amy Jones steadied the ship.
They put on 84 for the fifth wicket, but after the final five wickets fell for just 28 runs, India held a first-innings lead of 115 and set about building on it as they finished the day on 154 for one, with Smriti Mandhana unbeaten on 69.
That already leaves England needing to pull off what would be a record fourth-innings run chase – the current high mark is the 198 scored by Australia against England in Sydney in 2011.
England resumed on 21 for one after the loss of Tammy Beaumont late on Friday and were soon in further trouble as Gaud had Maia Bouchier caught behind for 23 before Heather Knight quickly followed, lbw to Sayali Satghare for six.
When Gaud bowled England debutant Alice Capsey for nine, the hosts were rocking, but Sciver-Brunt (44) and Jones stopped the rot with some quick scoring, with Jones’ 52 coming off 62 balls before an inside edge off Sneh Rana looped into the hands of Richa Ghosh.
Once Sciver-Brunt followed, bowled by Gaud, England crumbled. Sophie Ecclestone was caught behind off Satghare for 10 and Rana sent a dipping delivery through the gate to bowl Mady Villiers for 10.
Lauren Bell became Gaud’s fifth victim when an edge rebounded off Rana and Shafali Verma dived forward to snaffle the ball and the innings came to a close when Lauren Filer was trapped lbw by Deepti Sharma for a duck.
Verma and Mandhana then set about piling on the pressure as England’s bowlers toiled in the sweltering conditions.
The openers built an opening partnership worth 88 before Ecclestone tempted Verma into a big shot and she picked out substitute fielder Emma Lamb at mid-on, giving Ecclestone her 339th international wicket a day after she became England’s all-time leading wicket-taker across all three formats.
However, it was England’s only breakthrough of the day.
Mandhana, who had made 83 in the first innings, hit a towering six off Ecclestone in the 19th over, part of a quick start to her own innings, but after Verma’s exit she slowed things down as she began to eye her own place on the honours board.
Together with Yastika Bhatia, who was unbeaten on 39 at the close, she kept England frustrated in the summer heat.
PA
