Sky Sports’ Lauren Winfield-Hill says England “lost control” as they suffered their biggest T20I loss against India at Trent Bridge on Saturday.
England, who went down by 97 runs, made a mistake from the very first ball with a misfield from Sophie Ecclestone, who was making a return from international cricket after taking a break to “prioritise her mental wellbeing”, which gifted India their first run.
The mistakes continued with Alice Capsey misjudging a catch off India’s centurion Smriti Mandhana (112) and dropping Amanjot Kaur (3no) and Danni Wyatt-Hodge unable to take Harleen Deol (43) at deep midwicket, as well as England fumbling stops on the boundary rope and gifting India runs.
“It felt like England lost control in the first innings,” said Winfield-Hill on Sky Sports Cricket.
“England didn’t get their bowling matchups right. Bell bowled and went at five an over, and we didn’t see her until the death.
“It felt like she was the one who could have come into the game earlier and removed Mandhana, especially with Harmanpreet Kaur [India’s captain who was rested after a head injury] out of the middle order.
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India take two wickets in two balls and it’s a third successive T20I duck for Danni Wyatt-Hodge.
“There was a real effort there from India, if England got a few early wickets, they could have been in the driving seat, but the tempo wasn’t really set by England.
“There were a lot of dropped catches and a misfield in the first over. It was a bit sloppy from England.
“Tempo is so important in T20 cricket, how you set the tone is enormous, and England never really got hold of the game.”
England came into the India series after securing clean sweeps against the West Indies in a three-match ODI and T20I series earlier in the summer but were bowled out by India for 113 as their troubles against spin continued.
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Sky Sports pundit Nasser Hussain says England were poor in the field in their first T20 against India, adding that it looked like they got their tactics all wrong.
“England got the reading of the game wrong, this is a quick ground with a big breeze and there was just never that adjustment from them,” added Sky Sports’ Mel Jones.
“England, as an international side, catching and fielding should be their bread and butter.
“They are the second-ranked team in the world, they have played in World Cup finals, but they missed the boat there.”
England’s captain Nat Sciver-Brunt top-scored with 66 while seven of her team-mates – Sophia Dunkley (7), Wyatt-Hodge (0), Amy Jones (1), Alice Capsey (5), Sophie Ecclestone (1), Lauren Filer (2), Lauren Bell (2) – were out in single figures.
“India are a world-class side and challenged us greatly today,” said Sciver-Brunt.
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Lauren Bell strikes late on to remove Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh in the same over!
“We probably didn’t bowl as well as we wanted to and didn’t quite back it up in the field as we did against West Indies [earlier in the summer].
“You like to take every catch but that didn’t happen so that is something for us to work on.
“We executed well with the ball at times, and gained a lot of energy towards the end of the innings. There are things we can take from this match.
“The pitch perhaps slowed up a bit, but when you are chasing 200, you have to keep going as a batting side.
“Losing early wickets got us behind in the game. We probably looked to play a little bit too square and gave them a few chances.
“I guess for me it was trying to get on strike, come back for twos and still make sure I am hitting a boundary every over.”
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Emily Arlott makes the breakthrough as Shafali Verma lofts her straight to Sophie Ecclestone at short mid-off.
England vs India fixtures
All time UK and Ireland; all live on Sky Sports
T20 international series
First T20, Trent Bridge: India beat England by 97 runsSecond T20: Tuesday July 1 (6.30pm) – BristolThird T20: Friday July 4 (6.35pm) – The Kia OvalFourth T20: Wednesday July 9 (6.30pm) – Emirates Old TraffordFifth T20: Saturday July 12 (6.35pm) – Edgbaston
One-day international series
First ODI: Wednesday July 16 (1pm) – SouthamptonSecond ODI: Saturday July 19 (11am) – Lord’sThird ODI: Tuesday July 22 (1pm) – Chester-le-Street
Watch England’s second T20I against India live on Sky Sports Cricket from Tuesday, July 1, with live coverage from 6pm ahead of the first ball at 6.30pm in Bristol.
