Honours go to India and Kranti Gaud on a punishing day for England

• England dismissed for a paltry 170

• Amy Jones top scores with 52

• Kranti Gaud gets a 5-fer to become the first woman on the test honours board

• England already staring down the barrel of a huge defeat

  
  

India (285 all out & 154/1) lead England (170 all out) by 269 runs with 9 wickets remaining.

On a day in which this game advanced decisively in the direction of a positive result for India, England were made to toil with both bat and ball, as they were outplayed and outfought by superior opposition.

A half century by wicketkeeper Amy Jones was the only silver lining for England as they saw a procession of their own batters dismissed cheaply in a dismal batting display, before being given another lesson in patience and judicious shot selection by Smriti Mandhana, who hit her second half century of the match and seems destined to have her name carved onto the fabled Lord’s Honours Board tomorrow as she seeks another test century.

It all started so promisingly for England on a warm and bright morning at Lord’s, with Heather Knight and Maia Bouchier at the crease, only one wicket down, 21 runs already on the board and a low-ish total of 285 to chase.

What they did not reckon with was the return to form of their nemesis from India’s 2025 tour of England. Kranti Gaud came to England 12 months ago a virtual unknown after a few eye-catching performances for UP Warriorz in the 2025 WPL. Her 6/52 in the final, decisive ODI at Chester-le-Street won that series for India and she went on to become a World Cup winner with them in November 2025.

Her T20 World Cup performances were disappointing: only selected for 3 of the 5 games and failed to take any wickets at all, so it was questionable whether she would make the starting XI for this match.

Today Kranti achieved a first – she got her name inscribed forever alongside legends of the game on the Lord’s Test match honours board, the first woman to do so, where she sits in the pantheon of Indian greats such as Dravid, Ganguly, Azharuddin and Mankad.

Her first victim of the day, in only the third over, was Maia Bouchier, trying to cut a ball which got too close to her and edging behind. Knight was dismissed the following over by Sayali Satghare, leaving England in a bit of a pickle on 32/3. This pickle became a full scale crisis three overs later when Alice Caspey played down the wrong line to Kranti and had her off stump removed.

At 47/4, England were staring down the barrel of missing the follow-on target of 136. Enter Amy Jones, often seen as someone who responds badly to pressure and certainly not the person you can rely on to rescue you from certain doom.

However, on this occasion the Brummie glove-master was the hero who steadied the sinking ship, providing the steadying hand on the tiller alongside captain Nat Sciver-Brunt, as the two of them, led by the more aggressive Jones, added crucial runs, taking England to the over before lunch and within one hefty strike of the follow-on target. 

Unfortunately, what England really needed was for Jones and Sciver-Brunt to still be together at the tea interval and Jones’s dismissal with the score at 131/4 brought about a slow collapse – the final six wickets were lost for 39 runs over the course of 22 overs, an agonising descent into the inevitable spread out over an hour and a half between lunch and tea.

England’s final total of 170 all out turned out to be the same total they scored in the first innings of their most recent previous test match at the MCG and whilst this game doesn’t have the same catastrophic overtones as the debacle in Melbourne, England’s inability to score heavily against high quality bowling in test cricket is the thread that runs through these performances. No team scoring 170 is likely to win any test match.

India’s second innings put England’s efforts into perspective, with Shafali joining with Smriti in an 88 run partnership. Her dismissal, caught by the substitute Emma Lamb from the bowling of Sophie Ecclestone was one of the very few positive moments for England on a chastening day which could not have gone much better for the visitors, nor worse for the hosts.

Expect India to bat quickly and set a huge target for England on day 3.