England suffered a 270-run defeat to India in the first women’s Test match to be played at Lord’s – here’s how the players rated…
Maia Bouchier – 5
Batting: 23 and 2
Bouchier batted quite nicely on the first evening to safely negotiate a tricky hour through to stumps, only to then fall in the third over of the second morning to spark England’s top-order collapse to 47-4 from which they failed to truly recover.
She, like one or two others in this team, should be afforded a few more opportunities given a couple of notable retirements – she needs to grasp at them.
Tammy Beaumont – 4
Batting: 2 and 0
A sorry way for such a wonderful servant to English cricket to bow out as she scored just two runs in her farewell Test, with her second-innings golden duck particularly cruel.
Ultimately she fell foul to two cracking deliveries from Kranti Gaud that jagged back in sharply, trapping her lbw first time around and knocking back her off stump in the second instance.
Her fielding, as has been the case throughout her career, was exemplary.
Heather Knight – 5
Batting: 6 and 13
Knight didn’t manage much more as she too closed the book on her international career, England’s most-capped women’s player announcing her decision midway through the Test.
She was pinned in front on the second morning by Sayali Satghare, while her final Test innings was ended with a bat-pad offering to short-leg.
Nat Sciver-Brunt – 6
Batting: 44 and 11
The skipper, much like the rest of her side, looked a touch jaded after only a four-day gap in between England’s T20 World Cup final defeat to Australia and this historic first women’s Test at Lord’s.
Her second-innings dismissal – bowled on the sweep to Sneh Rana the ball after having been saved by DRS – looked a particularly tired one.
In the first innings, she, along with Amy Jones, tried her best to rally the team as they put on an 84-run partnership for the fifth wicket that followed the top-order collapse on the second morning – but ultimately she’d end up one of Gaud’s five victims that earned the Indian seamer a place on the Lord’s Honours Board.
Alice Capsey – 5
Batting: 9 and 21
A fairly forgettable Test debut for Capsey, with modest contributions in both innings before being bowled.
It’s easy to forget that she is still only 21, having burst onto the scene a good five years ago as a 16-year-old in the inaugural season of The Hundred.
With the rather sizeable holes left behind by Beaumont and Knight – across all formats – it’s an important period coming up for Capsey, you feel, to now position herself as a more consistent contributor for the team.
Amy Jones – 7
Batting: 52 and 54
A welcome return to form with the bat for Jones after struggling during the T20 World Cup, where she returned five single-figure scores in her six innings following a fifty in the tournament opener.
She was back hitting half-centuries here, notching two of them as she provided greater resistance than her top-order team-mates – albeit her dismissals to Rana, in both innings, were ultimately pretty soft.
Jones also took a couple of excellent catches, stood up to Smriti Mandhana in the first innings, and again down the legside off Mandhana again in the second innings.
Mady Villiers – 7
Batting: 10 and 26; Bowling: 2-79 and 0-42
An impressive return to the fold for England after having made just five appearances – three ODIs and two T20s against Ireland at the back end of the 2024 summer – in the past five years.
Making her Test debut, Villiers was a standout on day one, taking 2-79 as she and Issy Wong were rewarded for probing spells after lunch that helped drag England back into proceedings after a poor morning – the off-spinner’s dismissal of Harmanpreet Kaur, bowled through the gate, a particular highlight.
There were glimpses too of the batting depth she can provide, particularly in the second innings, before her fun was ended by a truly sensational reflex grab by Richa Ghosh at silly mid-off.
Sophie Ecclestone – 8
Bowling: 3-68 and 5-118; Batting: 11 and 50
As she is so often for England, Ecclestone was their top performer – and, arguably, not just with the ball as she notched her career-best and a maiden half-century on the final morning that hinted at untapped potential with the bat.
She mopped up the Indian lower order in the first innings to become England’s all-time leading wicket-take across formats, before she claimed a fourth Test five-for second time round to earn a deserved and much-coveted spot on the Lord’s Honours Board.
Issy Wong – 6
Bowling: 2-41 and 0-68; Batting: 7no and 1
Wong claimed the key wicket of Mandhana for 83 in the first innings, sparking an Indian collapse from 190-3 to 285 all out after she and Villiers worked well in tandem to wrestle things back England’s way.
Less of a factor second time round, however, proving expensive at 4.85 an over. Consistency at this level is still the issue for the young fast bowler.
Lauren Bell – 5
Bowling: 1-50 and 2-27; Batting: 3 and 0
Not her best outing, with England struggling to get any sort of grip on the Test match following a poor first hour or so in which India brought up their 100 in little more than 18 overs.
She bowled Yastika Bhatia with a beauty during that period, but bowled just the nine overs at the cost of 50 runs in that first innings, before putting in an improved showing in the second innings, by which time it was a little too late in the context of the match.
Lauren Filer – 4
Bowling: 2-40 and 0-61; Batting: 0 and 4no
Filer fell foul of being a bit undercooked for this match, having played no cricket over the last month while warming the bench during the T20 World Cup.
Her second ball of the entire Test – a snorter to find Shafali Verma’s edge through to Jones – would be as good as it would get for the fast bowler who faded thereafter without the miles in her legs.
Watch cricket and more top sport live on Sky Sports contract-free with NOW. England men begin a three-match one-day international series at home to India on Tuesday, at Edgbaston, with coverage on Sky Sports Cricket from 10.15am (11am first ball).
