Gritty win shows that England are beginning to find a new identity under Edwards

England (116/2 from 21 overs) beat India (143/8 from 29 overs) by 8 wickets (DLS method)

Photo Credit: Polly Starkie

I think it’s probably correct to say that rain-affected games somehow feel slightly odd. The spectator prepares themselves for one thing, but ends up getting something quite different. With a 50 over game, one gets used to the ebbs and flows, what a good score feels like and looks like. To suddenly alter the terms and conditions, to move the goalposts is somehow disorientating and doesn’t feel quite right.

On a day like today, one feels simply grateful to have been able to see any play at all. The weather up until midday was truly dreadful: non-stop rain always floating down, occasionally lashing down, and heavy low clouds seemingly enveloping the ground like the London smog of old.

In the distance, the odd rumble of thunder foreshadowed the conflict ahead: unresolved tension dating back to the same venue in September 2022, the same main protagonists nimbly dancing round the unmistakable elephant in the room, at stake the very essence of what a sporting contest could and should be: win by any means and at any cost, or tactically ignore marginal encroachment in the name of some abstract nouns: sports-person-ship, honour and spirit.

Spirit is of course the name of the team in which the two main characters of this melodrama compete together at this hallowed venue – comrades and champions together in the Hundred, yet fierce rivals in the international game: the proud and unyielding victor, the crushed and tearful loser who became team mates, and, dare we speculate, friends, lifting together the gaudy, gilded giant H last August.

Today the camaraderie of summer past had faded and the enmity of history had returned. India: shrewd, defiant, confident, a nation rising to take its place as a 21^st century super-power, ready to not just vanquish, but humiliate and mock the old colonial power. England, bewildered by the intensity of feeling from a team they do not consider their nearest rival, yet ready to play up and play the game as it should be played – where chivalry and honour sit alongside competitiveness and tactical nous. 

Four hours late, after heroic work from the ground staff, England, the champion coin tossers, yet again triumphed in the pre-match ritual and elected to field. India were soon struggling on a slow-paced pitch upon which even their most accomplished batters were struggling to time the ball. With only 29 overs per side available, the pace had to be more urgent than a regular ODI, but not as reckless and frenetic as a T20.

What we got was sluggish, stuttering, fragile batting, a regular falling of wickets and just under five runs per over, an even worse scoring rate than even England had managed in their defeat at Southampton earlier in the week.

Sophie Ecclestone and Em Arlott were the pick of the bowlers, but nobody bowled badly. Charlie Dean took a great return catch from her own bowling, then dropped an absolute dolly a few balls later. Lauren Bell and Linsey Smith did a reasonable job to stop the flow of runs without looking very dangerous. The three spinners and two seamers combination looks a better one than the inverse of this attack we had previously used in Southampton.

India’s total of 143 seemed significantly under par – I would suggest 35-40 runs under par.

England started well. Beaumont and Jones is an opening combination which works well once it gets going. Today it was Tammy who took the lead – striking at 200 through the powerplay, whilst Jones was more circumspect and cautious. This is becoming the defining approach of Lottie-ball: Take your time, preserve your wicket, play the conditions, accelerate once you are in and only if the game demands it. Smart cricket played in a conservative and judicious manner until you move to the next phase. Maybe we should call it “transition-ball”.

After 10 overs, England were 54/0.

There had been one big over (the second over of the innings, bowled by Goud, but after that there had been a few nudges and nurdles for ones and twos and only three boundaries in eight overs. India had inexplicably appealed to the umpires, suggesting Tammy Beaumont had obstructed the field – it was just another moment of tension between the teams in what is becoming a niggly and occasionally bad-tempered series and further evidence that Harman will pursue every means at her disposal to obtain a victory, or if that’s not possible, to avoid a defeat and regardless of the result, to rattle her opponents. 

In the 18^th over, with victory within England’s grasp – only 35 runs needed and 11 overs in which to get them with 9 wickets in hand (Beaumont had been dismissed at the start of the 11^th over), the rain returned. It was 6.40pm. If it rained for more than 20 minutes it would almost certainly mean that the game would be abandoned as a draw. England needed to have batted 20 overs to win by DLS and there were still 8 balls to be bowled before we reached that point.

The rain stopped after 10 minutes, play officially resumed at 7pm, although India seemed very reluctant to take the field and then Harman ensured that the next 8 balls took an interminably long time, even burning a review in order to waste a few more minutes, desperate for the rain to return and scupper England’s chance of winning. Alas for Harman, the rain stayed away, and despite the loss of Sciver-Brunt, Jones and Dunkley steered England home for their most convincing win over India so far this summer.

And so the international summer will reach a conclusion at Chester-le-Street on Tuesday, with this series tied at 1-1. England’s win in this game was not spectacular in the way they defeated the West Indies earlier in the summer, but this win in particular indicates a particular identity that this team is developing. They do what they need to do to win. Not in the way India does, but a bit like the way The Southern Vipers used to do it: by being methodical, consistent and organised. It’s a method that will eventually win the team admirers rather than friends, but it may bring the success that everyone craves.

As for India, it is clear that they will be formidable opponents in this Autumn’s 50 over World Cup, which is taking place (mainly) in their own country. There will be huge expectations of them and they have recent history in messing up in big competitions, but one senses that this is a moment of destiny for them and that the players are ready to step up just at the right time to help them lift their first global trophy.