England beat India at Lord's with Sophie Ecclestone taking 3-27

Times

19-07-2025

England's spin bowlers combined to lead them to an eight-wicket victory in a rain-affected second one-day international against India to level the series and set up a decider on Tuesday.
After biblical rain in London on Saturday morning, the game was reduced to 29 overs a side, meaning England made a number of changes, with the seam bowlers Kate Cross and Lauren Filer and the all-rounder Alice Davidson-Richards replaced by the seamer Emily Arlott, the left-arm spinner Linsey Smith and the batter Maia Bouchier.
Having been asked to bat first, India's innings was unusually timid and it was clear they were confused as to how to pace their innings, while England chipped away with wickets at key moments. They halted any opportunity for the visitors to bat more aggressively and India's total of 143 for eight was modest at best.
England's decision to bowl first was vindicated almost immediately as Arlott struck with her fourth delivery — a well-pitched yorker that uprooted Pratika Rawal's stumps for three. England contained India well in the opening powerplay but it was the introduction of spin that really put them on the back foot.
England's spinners took six wickets between them on a slow Lord's pitch and it was Ecclestone who did the most damage, finishing with figures of three for 27 from her six overs. Harleen Deol fell to a sharp caught and bowled while India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur was undone by a quicker delivery that shot through her attempted cut shot and took her off stump. Charlie Dean, who bowled superbly, reduced India to 69 for four, getting the dangerous Jemimah Rodrigues who chipped straight back into the hands of the England off spinner.
Smriti Mandhana was India's top scorer, but even she struggled to time the ball, getting to 42 from 51 balls before becoming the first of Smith's two wickets, reducing the visitors to 98 for six. It was only a lower-order cameo from Deepti Sharma of 30 from 34 that pushed India to a half-respectable score.
Requiring less than five an over, the pressure was off for England and the opening pair of Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont set the tone for the chase, putting on a half-century stand in just over ten overs. There was a moment of controversy in the fifth over when India appealed for obstructing the field after Beaumont clipped to midwicket and the throw came back into the stumps but hit the England opener's pads. India clearly believed that it constituted obstruction, but the third umpire — after a number of television replays — was satisfied that Beaumont was just trying to regain her ground.
The opening partnership was broken when Beaumont was pinned leg-before for 34 from 35 balls attempting a reverse-sweep to a delivery from Sneh Rana that kept low, and the review showed it was going on to hit off stump.
Given the reduced overs, England adjusted their batting order, bringing Nat Sciver-Brunt in at No3 and dropping Emma Lamb down. The England captain continued to keep the runs ticking along in a second-wicket partnership of 48 with Jones, who spearheaded the chase with an unbeaten 46.
The heavens opened again at 6.30pm with just eight more balls needed to constitute a match but the delay was brief, leaving England with a revised target of 115. Needing only another 13 from 5.2 overs, the winning runs came from Sophia Dunkley with 18 balls to spare.
There were periods when India challenged with the ball, particularly through the excellent left-arm spin of Shree Charani, who was the leading wicket-taker in the preceding five-match T20 series, but this was a straightforward chase for England and it sets up a series decider in the third and final match in Durham on Tuesday.
Lord's (England won toss) England beat India by eight wickets (DLS method)
IndiaP Rawal b Arlott 3S S Mandhana c Dean b Smith 42H Deol c & b Ecclestone 16*H Kaur b Ecclestone 7J I Rodrigues c & b Dean 3†R M Ghosh lbw b Ecclestone 2D B Sharma not out 30A Reddy lbw b Smith 14S Rana b Arlott 6K Goud not out 4Extras (lb 2, w 14) 16Total: (for 8 wkts; 29 overs) 143Fall of wickets 1-6, 2-46, 3-57, 4-69, 5-72, 6-98, 7-124, 8-135.Did not bat S N Charani.Bowling Bell 6-0-29-0, Arlott 6-1-26-2, Dean 6-0-31-1, Ecclestone 6-0-27-3, Smith 5-0-28-2.
England†A Jones not out 46T Beaumont lbw b Rana 34*N Sciver-Brunt b Goud 21S Dunkley not out 9Extras (w 3, lb 3) 6Total (for 2 wkts; 21 overs) 116Fall of wickets 1-54, 2-102.Did not bat M Bouchier, E Lamb, E Arlott, S Ecclestone, C Dean, L Smith, L Bell.Bowling Reddy 5-0-21-0, Goud 3-0-29-1, Charani 5-0-28-0, Sharma 5-0-23-0, Rana 3-0-12-1.
Umpires A Harris & R White (both Eng). Three-match series at 1-1 with one to play.First ODI (Southampton) India won by four wkts.Third ODI Tuesday (Chester-le-Street).