India have defeated England by 270 runs in the one-off Test at Lord’s, a famous victory which will go some way to making up for their failure to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup this month.
England batted for long enough on the fourth morning to allow Sophie Ecclestone to reach a milestone half-century, her first in an England shirt and a moment she celebrated with delight, embraced by her batting partner Lauren Filer.
To get there, Ecclestone had been forced to appeal to DRS, overturning an lbw decision which went against her on 44, saved when UltraEdge revealed a very faint bottom edge off the bowling of Deepti Sharma.
There was some tension, too, as despite Ecclestone’s best efforts to farm the strike England’s No 11 Filer was forced to play out 17 balls at the other end without scoring a run, herself surviving an lbw review by India with Ecclestone on 49.
But Ecclestone was bowled by Sneh Rana shortly after reaching the half-century, the final wicket to fall, 20 minutes before lunch, as England finally succumbed to the inevitable and were all out for 186.
Earlier, England had lost their one remaining established batter Amy Jones in the third over of the morning, pulling to Shafali Verma at midwicket. Issy Wong continued her first-innings immovability, surviving for 33 balls before Deepti bowled her, Lauren Bell becoming the off-spinner’s victim in her next over.
This match was not the send-off England would have wanted for two of their leading batters, Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight, but with their next Test not scheduled until April 2027 in the Caribbean there is plenty of time to reflect and prepare.
Raf Nicholson’s full report to follow…
