England to end long exile from Lancashire with overdue return to Old Trafford

4^th Vitality T20 international – Old Trafford

9^th July 2025

Photo Credit: Polly Starkie

England’s women return to Old Trafford this evening for the first time since 2012. Lancashire County Cricket Club have marketed this game strongly since it was first announced, stating the ambition of breaking the record for the best attended women’s cricket international “in the North”. The current record is the 9,146 who attended the England v Pakistan game at Headingley in 2024 (although this is the official attendance, about 12,000 tickets were sold or distributed for this game, but the actual number of people who attended was reported  by CRICKETher at the time to be 7,500).

Northern county grounds have historically been inaccessible to England’s women – only 12 internationals have been played at Old Trafford, Headingley and Chester-le-Street this century and six of those were at Chester-le-Street.

By contrast Hove, Canterbury and Chelmsford have hosted 32 games since England last played at Old Trafford in 2012. England’s squad of 14 for the T20 series includes only two players (Sophie Ecclestone and Danni Wyatt-Hodge) brought up north of Birmingham and only two players who play for “northern” counties (Lancashire’s Ecclestone and Durham’s Filer)*.

Women’s cricket does have an issue with inclusion – and opening up opportunities for players and spectators from the north, I would suggest, is a key factor in the diversification, expansion and improvement of the game.

Tonight’s game is an opportunity for England to square the series and set up a decider at Edgbaston on Saturday. This has been a disappointing series so far for England. The first two games were comprehensive defeats – thrashings in fact, in which too many runs were conceded and the batters imploded with the pressure of chasing such daunting totals.

Even Friday night’s victory at the Oval was unconvincing. Having set a great platform of 137/0 with 28 balls to go, England somehow managed to end up on 171/9, a total they looked like not defending because of some very poor fielding, until some smart captaincy from Beaumont, shuffling her bowlers around and some hostile bowling from Filer allowed them to squeeze over the line by 5 runs on the final ball.

Coach Charlotte Edwards’ faith in Danni Wyatt-Hodge was repaid in the last game when the painfully out of form opener got her mojo back with a timely 66 from 42 balls. The spotlight of scrutiny now must fall on Alice Capsey, who has scored only 22 runs in her last 5 T20i innings. Maia Bouchier waits in the wings, having been called up as cover for Nat Sciver-Brunt.

In the bowling department, Sophie Ecclestone put in a much-improved performance in the 3^rd T20 at the Oval. Charlie Dean and Issy Wong were brought in for that game and were expensive, but neither more nor less effective than Smith and Arlott whom they had replaced, so may end up keeping their places.

For India, Harleen Deol must feel slightly aggrieved to have been dropped after hitting 43 from 23 balls in the first game, to make way for the returning Harmanpreet Kaur. It would be great to see her back, but it is difficult to see who would make way for her in India’s stacked and talented top order. 

India’s bowlers have performed well in this series, with Shree Charani causing England all sorts of problems with her slow left arm spin, taking eight wickets in the first three games. Sneh Rana was expensive at the Oval and didn’t bowl her allocation. Having failed to take any wickets so far in the series, her place may be under threat, with medium pace all-rounder Sayali Satghare a possible option for India.

This is a game England have to win. Tammy Beaumont will be confident that she can put plans into place to get the best out of England in the field. However, it is the fragility of England’s top order that causes the most concern. Dunkley and Wyatt-Hodge stepped up in the last match. It would be good to see Jones, Beaumont and Scholfield replicating their domestic T20 form with the bat and not being part of a far too familiar England collapse in this evening’s game.

Beaumont’s first job is to win the toss. If she does so, it will be the 10^th consecutive toss England have won this summer – a 1/1024 probability. England have looked better setting a total than chasing a total so far, so I anticipate she will want to bat.

The Mancunian public await their first chance to see England’s women in over a decade. It should be a fantastic occasion. Lancashire have done more than any other county to promote the women’s game and treat men’s and women’s teams equally in facilities, media coverage and access to the ground. They are even building a new ground near Preston specifically to develop the women’s game. Let us hope that England and India serve up a cricketing feast this evening and let us also hope that the people of Manchester do not have to wait another 13 years to see England play here again (although if they want to see India play here again, they will be here twice in a week in June 2026 during the World Cup).

* Charlie Dean was born in Burton on Trent (about 25 miles north of Birmingham), but grew up and went to school in Portsmouth and was always part of the Hampshire pathway.