Key events
WICKET! England 149-4 (Wyatt c Amin b Dar 44)
Danni Wyatt charges Nida Dar and clatters the ball straight to cow corner, where Sidra Amin calmly takes the catch. Wyatt goes for an excellent 42-ball 44, though her body language as she walks off suggests she has left a few runs out there.
26th over: England 147-3 (Sciver-Brunt 39, Wyatt 44) Riaz has also changed ends, which means Fatima Sana bowled just one over in her second spell. Her first ball is a leg-stump full toss that Sciver-Brunt puts away with the minimum of fuss, but she does well to follow that fourball with four dot balls
25th over: England 142-3 (Sciver-Brunt 34, Wyatt 44) Nida Dar has changed ends to replace Riaz, but England are really going after her today. Sciver-Brunt runs down the track to drive handsomely back over the bowler’s head for four.
Dar has bowled three one-over spells that have cost ten, nine and now eight runs. If she keeps that up it will be a helluvan end to the spell.
24th over: England 134-3 (Sciver-Brunt 28, Wyatt 42) Pakistan need a wicket, so Fatima Sana returns the attack. Wyatt reminds us that she owns both scalpel and sledgehammer by gliding a boundary to third, but there’s nothing she can do with a perfect outswinger that beats the outside edge. Wyatt almost toppled over, which would have been fatal with the keeper Najiha Alvi up to the stumps.
23rd over: England 129-3 (Sciver-Brunt 28, Wyatt 37) A double bowling change for Pakistan, with the medium-pacer Aliya Riaz coming on. She starts with a long hop that is clubbed to deep midwicket for four by Wyatt, and a nervous first over – including two wides – goes for nine.
Sciver-Brunt and Wyatt have added 59 at exactly a run a ball. It’s been a lesson in scoring quickly in the middle overs while minimising risk.
22nd over: England 120-3 (Sciver-Brunt 27, Wyatt 31) Nida Dar, back in the attack, starts with a flighted half-volley that is timed to the cover boundary by Wyatt.
Sciver-Brunt survives a precautionary run-out check after stealing another single, then sweeps a couple to move past 3,500 ODI runs. Never mind the volume, look at the average (46) and strike rate (96).
21st over: England 111-3 (Sciver-Brunt 24, Wyatt 25) The expert rotation of strike continues, with five singles and a two from Nashra’s fifth over. Both batters are going at close to a run a ball yet they’ve hardly played a big shot.
20th over: England 104-3 (Sciver-Brunt 22, Wyatt 20) A potentially tight over from Umm-e-Hani is tarnished when Wyatt deftly steers the last ball towards the third boundary for three runs. These two look in good touch.
19th over: England 99-3 (Sciver-Brunt 21, Wyatt 16) Nashra has a couple of hopeful LBW appeals turned down against Sciver-Brunt, who was a long way down the track on both occasions. Nice bowling though, and only two runs from the over.
18th over: England 97-3 (Sciver-Brunt 21, Wyatt 15) Wyatt gets lucky when a top-edged sweep off Umm-e-Hani just clears short fine leg.
A couple of big shots aside, this pair have been very good at rotating the strike, and there are five singles from the over. Sciver-Brunt has 21 from 19 balls, Wyatt 15 from 17.
17th over: England 92-3 (Sciver-Brunt 18, Wyatt 13) Wyatt dances down the pitch to launch Nashra over mid-off for six. That’s a great shot, the best of the England innings so far.
16th over: England 83-3 (Sciver-Brunt 17, Wyatt 5) Wyatt survives a stumping referral after missing a slog-sweep off Umm-e-Hani, who is bowling nicely.
15th over: England 78-3 (Sciver-Brunt 13, Wyatt 4)
14th over: England 75-3 (Sciver-Brunt 11, Wyatt 3) No sign of England going into their shell despite the loss of three early wickets. They do bat deep today, with Alice Capsey carded at No7, and we know they want to keep attacking come what may.
WICKET! England 70-3 (Knight LBW b Umm-e-Hani 12)
It’s closer than close: it’s out! The ball turned past the inside-edge and hit Knight on the back pad in front of off and middle. Knight’s bat got stuck behind the pad, which is why she couldn’t access the ball.
Pakistan review for LBW against Knight! She pushed around a good delivery from Umm-e-Hani, and this looks really close.
13th over: England 70-2 (Knight 12, Sciver-Brunt 10) Baig (6-1-21-1) is replaced by the left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu, whose second ball is hammered past midwicket for four by Sciver-Brunt. That’s a terrific shot, an immaculate demonstration of her footwork, placement and power.
12th over: England 63-2 (Knight 10, Sciver-Brunt 5) Fatima Sana is replaced by the offspinner Umm-e-Hani, who is edged past the keeper for four by Sciver-Brunt. I was going to say that this might be a fairly quiet spell while Knight and Sciver-Brunt try to assess what’s a decent score. One more wicket would leave England in bother, even with a deep batting line-up.
11th over: England 56-2 (Knight 8, Sciver-Brunt 0) That was the last ball of the over.
WICKET! England 56-2 (Bouchier c Fatima b Baig 34)
Diana Baig continues into her sixth over – a risk that is rewarded when Bouchier spoons a catch to extra cover. Baig deserves that wicket for a really good opening spell; Bouchier’s timing was awry but she played positively, hitting six fours in a 33-ball 34.
10th over: England 53-1 (Bouchier 34, Knight 5) England have mistimed a number of strokes, which suggests this pitch might be deceptively awkward. That said Pakistan have bowled really well in the Powerplay, with a largely terrific line.
Bouchier continues to play her shots, thumping Fatima over mid-off for four. For a split-second it looked like it might be a chance but she got enough on it. Another boundary off the last ball, dragged uppishly wide of mid-on, takes Bouchier to 34 from 31 balls.
9th over: England 45-1 (Bouchier 26, Knight 5) Dropped her! Bouchier slaps a wide ball from Baig towards extra cover, where Fatima puts down an awkward two-handed chance to her left.
Pakistan continue to make life awkward for England’s batters. Knight gets a leading edge that falls just short of Baig in her follow-through.
8th over: England 44-1 (Bouchier 25, Knight 5) Fatima almost gets two in two when Heather Knight edges her first ball just wide of leg stump for four. Then Bouchier edges a very full delivery just short of slip.
Despite those moments of fortune, and partly because of them, England have scored 25 from the last two overs,
WICKET! England 35-1 (Beaumont b Fatima 11)
You didn’t see dismissals like this in the 1990s. Tammy Beaumont tries to ramp Fatima Sana, misses and is bowled. Replays show it was a really good delivery, which swung in late to embarrass Beaumont.
7th over: England 31-0 (Beamount 7, Bouchier 22) Maia Bouchier releases the pressure with three boundaries in five balls off Diana Bag: a clip past square leg, an emphatic thump through the covers and a classy lofted drive to the left of mid-on. Lovely, elegant batting.
6th over: England 19-0 (Beamount 7, Bouchier 10) Another tight over from Fatima Sana, two from it. The five overs of seam , or rather swing, have cost only nine runs.
5th over: England 17-0 (Beamount 7, Bouchier 9) Beaumont pushes forward at a gorgeous outswinger from Baig and survives a huge appeal for caught behind. My hunch is that the bat hit the pad, and after a long discussion Nida Dar decides against a review.
Replays confirm the offending sound was indeed bat on pad. Even so, that’s a terrific maiden from Baig, who has figures of 3-1-5-0. England’s openers are finding life tricky against the swinging ball.
4th over: England 17-0 (Beamount 7, Bouchier 9) Dar sensibly gives way to another swing bowler, Fatima Sana, who beats Beaumont with her second delivery. Neither batter has quite found their touch yet; it’s been a low-key start to the game.
3rd over: England 15-0 (Beamount 6, Bouchier 9) Baig has started well, with a tight line (mostly) and a soupcon of outswing, enough to make the batters wary. She concedes just a single from her second over.
2nd over: England 14-0 (Beamount 5, Bouchier 9) The Pakistan captain Nida Dar decides to open with her offspin, but an expensive first over goes for 10. England scored off all six deliveries, with Bouchier slicing the last ball for the first boundary off the innings.
1st over: England 4-0 (Beamount 3, Bouchier 1) There’s some early swing for Baig, whose first few deliveries are played carefully by Beaumont. A bit of width allows Beaumont to push through the covers for three, then Bouchier guides her first ball to third for a single.
The coverage has started right on time, although Sky say they have limited coverage because of some technical problems. Diana Baig is about to open the bowling to Tammy Beaumont.
The local TV coverage was scheduled to start 20 minutes ago, but we’re currently watching highlights of a men’s T20 between India and England from 2007. I’m sure it’ll be sorted in time for the first ball. Please, FFS, please tell me it’ll be sorted in time for the first ball.
Team news
Lauren Filer is replaced by Lauren Bell, the only change on either side from Sunday’s abandoned match at Taunton.
England Bouchier, Beaumont, Knight (c), Sciver-Brunt, Wyatt, Jones (wk), Capsey, Dean, Ecclestone, Cross, Bell.
Pakistan Sadaf Shamas, Sidra Amin, Muneeba Ali, Ayesha Zafar, Nida Dar (c), Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Najiha Alvi (wk), Umm-e-Hani, Diana Baig, Nashra Sandhu.
England win the toss and bat
Preamble
Look, there’s no easy way to say this, so here goes: I think we’re going to get some actual cricket today. So far this week, only 6.5 of a possible 140 overs have been bowled in the two series between England and Pakistan, but the forecast in Chelmsford is pr-etty good and we should get a full game today.
It’s a series decider with a twist: England can’t lose, as they lead 1-0, but a drawn series would feel like a defeat for them and a victory for an improving Pakistan. Confused? Don’t be. All I need are the three digits on the back of the card.
England weren’t totally happy with their performance in the only completed game so far, a 37-run win at Derby. It was, at least, a team effort. Eight batters scored between 16 and 44 to get them to a workable total of 243 for nine; four bowlers took at least two wickets to close out victory. And the one bowler who went wicketless, Sarah Glenn, had earlier scampered an important 16 not out at No9.
England aspire to more than that, for sure, but a 37-run sure beats losing. And it definitely beats another washout.
