Key events
7th over: India 38-3 (Rodrigues 15, Amanjot 3) Sophie Ecclestone comes into the attack. Plenty of focus on here given recent events, and a difficult afternoon at Trent Bridge. She starts nicely, conceding three and having an appeal for LBW turned down against Rodrigues. Bat and pad were fairly close together but replays showed it came straight off the bat.
6th over: India 35-3 (Rodrigues 14, Amanjot 1) The new batter Amanjot Kaur tries to pull a short ball from Bell that zips past the top edge. England’s intensity in the field has been impressive, especially after such a flat performance on Saturday.
WICKET! India 31-3 (Harmanpreet c Filer b Bell 1)
The captain Harmanpreet is now the old batter. She has gone second ball, caught at short fine leg by Lauren Filer. It wasn’t the greatest piece of cricket: a poor ball from Lauren Bell, who celebrated sheepishly, a pull round the corner from Harmanpreet and an untidy catch from Filer. Untidy but clean: Harmanpreet has gone and England have taken three big wickets in the Powerplay.
5th over: India 31-2 (Rodrigues 12, Harmanpreet 1) The captain Harmanpreet is the new batter.
WICKET! India 30-2 (Mandhana c Bell b Arlott 13)
Never mind the ground fielding, England’s catching is much sharper as well! Mandhana clothed the new bowler Arlott towards mid-on, where Bell leapt backwards to take a brilliant two-handed catch.
4th over: India 24-1 (Mandhana 13, Rodrigues 7) Rodrigues square-drives Filer with a flourish to score her first boundary. That was a rare full delivery in another aggressive over from Filer, who twice beat Rodrigues with short balls outside off stump.
This has been a good start from England, whose ground fielding has also looked much sharper than it did on Saturday.
3rd over: India 19-1 (Mandhana 13, Rodrigues 2) Lauren Bell, England’s best bowler by a distance at Trent Bridge, replaces Capsey. There’s some gentle inswing to the left-handed Mandhana, who punches a couple of drives without beating the infield. A good start from Bell, just two from the over.
2nd over: India 17-1 (Mandhana 12, Rodrigues 1) Jemima Rodridgues gets off the mark with a mistimed shot that lands safely on the leg side. Terrific start from Filer, who gave both Verma and Rodrigues the hurry-up.
WICKET! India 14-1 (Verma c Jones b Filer 3)
This is seriously good fast bowling from Lauren Filer. She beat the edge with a beauty, then rammed in a superb short ball that followed Verma, took the glove and was comfortably caught by Amy Jones.
Verma was on the walk, which only made life difficult as the ball roared towards her, but it would have been very tough to deal even if she’d stayed in her crease.
1st over: India 11-0 (Mandhana 10, Verma 1) Smriti Mandhana picks up where she left off at Trent Bridge, hitting two elegant boundaries – one through the covers, one through point – in Alice Capsey’s first over. Eleven from the over, which makes Mandhana and Shafali Verma the most productive opening partnership in Women’s T20I history.
Time for the action. It’s a gorgeous evening in Bristol, warm without being oppressive. The TV commentators are discussing their surprise at England’s decision to bowl first.
Team news: England unchanged
England are unchanged, which gives their XI the chance to right Saturday’s wrongs.
India do change a winning side, but only to bring back their captain Harmanpreet Kaur in place of Harleen Deol.
England Dunkley, Wyatt-Hodge, Sciver-Brunt (c), Beaumont, Jones (wk), Capsey, Arlott, Ecclestone, Filer, Smith, Bell.
India Mandhana, Verma, Harmanpreet (c), Rodrigues, Amanjot, Ghosh (wk), Deepti, Yadav, Reddy, Rana, Charani.
England win the toss and bowl
Bristol is cooler than much of the country, around 25 degrees, so England are happy to field first. The pitch looks very dry so there was a decent case for batting first, but most teams prefer to chase these days.
Harmanpreet back for India
The word is that Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur, who missed Saturday’s game because of a head injury, has been passed fit to return tonight.
Preamble
The road to success is never a straight line, but nobody expected England to veer so dramatically off course at the start of their T20 series against India. Nat Sciver-Brunt’s side were pulverised by 97 runs at Trent Bridge on Saturday, their heaviest T20 defeat, with the peerless Smriti Mandhana striking a glorious 112.
Adversity is usually a window into the soul of a person or a team. How England respond tonight, and for the rest of this five-match series, will increase our understanding of the journey that faces them: how far they have to travel, and how long it might take them.
