England vs India: Ecclestone takes landmark wicket but India edge Day 1 at Lord's

0:01Yeah, gone! Gone, he gets his fairytale ending! An epic way to go to a Test Match 100. The London Spirit of First Time win is the most remarkable thing you'll probably ever see in cricket. 604 and final Test wicket for Stuart Ball. It's ended when the T20 won't happen. Can you believe it? Moments after Stokes' international career is coming to an end. Another wicket for this incredible cricketer. Hello and welcome to the review of day one of the test match between England's women and those of India. I'm in the company of Ebony Rainford Brent and Simon Dole. Ninety-one and a half years ago, the first women's test match was played between England and Australia in Brisbane.

0:50And today is the first day we've had of test match cricket at the home of cricket, Lourdes. explain how has it taken so long there's no doubt it's long overdue I can't give you all the reasons why what I would say 2017 when there was a World Cup final here and it kind of I think gave a bit of a boost to MCC and the members in particularly to say they needed more women's cricket focus to double down with the success and the growth of the game and we have seen that investment from the MCC but it's taken its time and I think the girls are absolutely loving it you can feel the energy and the occasion It should have happened sooner, but at least it's happening now.

1:27It is happening now, Simon Dole. A great celebration with many former players, England players, and sort of trailblazers, I suppose, on the ground this morning. And there was that great sense of anticipation that something special was about to occur over the course of this test match. Yeah, and I talked to Nat Silverbrunt about it at the toss, just saying, you know, do you talk about what's gone before you? Those who have set the benchmark, set the tone, paved the way and almost sort of created these moments to be allowed to happen. And she said they do. They understand that they're just the custodians at the moment.

1:59We used to talk about leaving the game in a better place than when you came into it. And, you know, some of the women that Enid Bakewell, who saw her earlier, absolute character. But, you know, those trailblazers of the women's game that have been here today, been celebrated, and long may that continue. And I think it's, as Eb said, well overdue, but it's here and hopefully it's not the last one. Yeah, so that's the history of it all. Early on this morning, the toss was won by England. Blazing hot day. It's been hot for weeks on end here in the UK. Who knew? And Nat Siverbrunt decided to have a bowl first.

2:40Debuts for Alice Capsie and Maddie Vidias on the England side of things. How about that decision? We had a look at the pitch earlier on, didn't we, Dooley? and there was a bit of grass in it, perhaps a little bit of moisture because the groundsman's had to use all of his stocks to keep it moist and the grass growing. That decision, was it vindicated by what we saw in that first session from England this morning? I think it would have been vindicated had they bowled better. I don't think they used the conditions well enough. And, you know, I thought we talked to the pitch report, Butch, I felt there was going to be seam and there might be spin as well because of the tufty nature of the grass.

3:15We talked about Shane Warne's great quote, if it seems, it spins. And I don't think England utilised the conditions well enough early enough. There was some terrific deliveries to get wickets, but a lot of poor deliveries in between. And they let the Indian side get away. And they were scoring it well over five and over for quite some time. So I think it would have been vindicated had they bowled better on it. I think they could have had India in a lot more trouble. Yeah, they managed to get rid of Yassica and Shefali Verma. and also a little bonus wicket as well of Jemmy Rodriguez before the lunch break, but not before India had racked up 122 in 25 overs, I think.

3:56So scoring rates were high. Smitty Mandana. It was difficult to talk about Indian cricket, Indian women's cricket without mentioning her. Brilliant 83 from 107 deliveries. What a player she is. There's no doubt she would have been dreaming about getting on that honours board. That is all a lot of the players have been thinking about. She came out looking ready for it, didn't she? England maybe fed her a little bit too much. Early on, they were over-pitched to her, and she's got that glorious drive, and we saw plenty of that put away. Then I got a bit nervous, actually, for England when we saw against the spinners coming in, she picked up a few boundary squares.

4:27She hit a sweep slog, and you're thinking, is this one of those days where she's going to kick on and score 150? Look, she batted beautifully. But I have to say, Izzy Wong came back and bowled really well to her in that second session. It was when they were just feeling like they might get away, and Izzy Wong got that line right, got that little feather of an edge and she was out for 80 odd. And I have to say, look, she could have been dangerous. If she would have kicked on any more, you know, England would have been fearful. But we were treated to watching some of Smitty's best. Yeah, Smitty Mandana with that, well, 17 runs shy of a century and a name up in the away dressing room on the honours board.

5:04Charlie Dagnall's 50th birthday today. Izzy Wong, bold in a style, very akin to Daggers at his very best. Keep her up, medium pace, bit of wobble here and there and it was actually Izzy Wong that got England back into the game in the afternoon. Yeah, nipping it round, downhill at Leicester. But yeah, I think they did their homework or sort of resurrected things in that lunch break, must have talked about what they'd done wrong. Their lengths were all wrong. They went to a lot of cross-seam deliveries or three-quarter deliveries post-lunch, just trying to make sure the line was right. You know, Lauren Bell did exactly the same things.

5:39Didn't try and swing too many after lunch and when Izzy Wong came back and went around the wicket and just got the ball to wobble enough, it produced that moment for Spritie Mundana. Good for Amy Jones too to get up to the stumps, make sure the batters were having to stay in their crease. We've seen a lot of that in the last month and a half, haven't we? And it paid dividends. So I thought they worked things out. What went wrong in the morning, they got slightly better in that middle session. Yeah, it wasn't just the seam. It was obviously when Nat Silverbrunn won the toss, she was expecting the likes of Lauren Fyler, Lauren Bell and Izzy Wong to do most of the damage.

6:13It was actually one of the debutants, Maddy Villiers, who in that middle session removed Harman Preet Kaur with the very last ball before the tea break. And great, great wicket to take on your debut, but also a fabulous performance from her all round in terms of control and in terms of turn. Yeah, look, for me, I think Maddy's story is brilliant. She's someone who's been in and out of the side over a few years and she came in today with confidence. I think what she's done is in domestic cricket, she's performed. She came off the back of a brilliant four for 14 for Durham. So she's walking in with confidence.

6:44And you could see that in her game because she was prepared to give it a bit of flight. I wasn't sure if she can, you know, fire it in when she needs to, but she's giving it a little bit of air. She was trying to get that dip and allowing it to turn. So that wicket she got is a spinner's dream, you know, up to bring her forward, turns through the gate. It was just dreamy. So she looks fired up. You know, she's showing that she deserves to be here. She doesn't look like she's nervous or anything like that. And she was also diving around in the field. I would say I've seen her cut off two or three boundaries already.

7:13So for a performance for her, then backed up later by Eccleston, you know, she'll be walking in tonight feeling really proud. Yeah, but Sophie Eccleston sort of cleaned up the towel and in the process of doing so, has become the leading wicket taker in women's international cricket going past Catherine Siverbrunt. 336 was the magic number. But she got there and picked up another couple to finish off the innings of India. And I think it's something like 30 or 40 less games. She's gone past Catherine Silverbund as well, which is no mean feat. It just shows you how valuable Sophie's been to this England women's side over many years in all three formats of the game.

7:49And again, I don't know that she was at her absolute best bowling a long spell today. But what you do want is when you're needed at the back end of an innings, a really good spinner to come and target the pads, target the stumps. and that's something she did brilliantly well. So, yeah, great career. She's got a bit more left in her yet, but she now sort of holds that record across all formats. Okay, so India finished, or well, bowled out in the end in just 74.5 overs, having got off to that blistering start for 285. So a big comeback from England, but turn in the pitch, which is baking in the London sunshine here at the moment and it'll probably only spin a little bit more.

8:2983 for Mandana, as we mentioned. Harman Prit Kaur made 58, struggled a little bit with cramp throughout her innings. It's not Chennai, is it? I know. It's not May and Chennai. It's a little bit surprising to see somebody from India, that part of the world, struggling with cramp. But that's exactly what happened. Deep Dishama made an excellent half-century. Her fifth in test matches, 57. But India would be disappointed to have collapsed in the way that I think they lost seven for just above 90 in the end. Is that a reflection on England's improvement or on the conditions actually being tougher than England's bowlers made it look in session one?

9:04Yeah, I'm not sure. Ebbs' thoughts as well. But I felt that it was probably a surface where England should have been bowling India out for 220, 230. I think there was enough in it. And I don't think they bowled well and they let them get away in that first session. But to me, I'm not sure this is a high scoring. I think it's played really well. I think it suits the style of the game. And I think it's played really well. We've seen a little bit of seam and a little bit of turn on day one, which I actually don't mind. I think it's been pretty good. Yeah, I agree with you. And I think, look, the way India were going, they were eyeing up 350 because the runs were coming freely.

9:39They were getting overpitched deliveries or deliveries they could get back and play. But as soon as the ball got in the right area, it was hard to sort of really manufacture runs. And, you know, then all of a sudden the bowlers pounce. So I think India will be pretty pleased with that 2-8-5. When you look at the course of the game as a first-inning score, potential for turn, seam movement you know I think they're in an okay position Okay, we all agree I think that India's 285 is worth more than that on a different type of surface but we shall see. England finished off the day 21 for 1 so a good 264 runs behind India for the loss of a player that we won't be seeing again.

10:18She'll have another innings in the course of this test match but Tammy Beaumont renounced her retirement on Wednesday. Out cheaply LBW in this innings. How much are England going to miss her? Yeah, massive. I think she's the last player for me that kind of goes from pre-professionalism into professional era. And she's kind of gone from the young pup to the grandma of the side in some ways in terms of like showing them how to be a professional as you come in. So she's kind of had a stamp. She's also one of the most vocal, you know, even her in a short leg today, she gives it some. Still in a short leg as the veteran of the side.

10:52Give her a little bit of a break, surely. Yeah, let her chill out. But I think, look, they're going to miss her. You know, she's provided so much stability within the structure that's been evolving. And also, I have a feeling she's going to need to, she's going to want to step it up for that final inning. She doesn't want to be remembered in her last game for doing really well at short leg. She will want to come back and score some runs in that final inning. I can't believe she didn't wait until just before tea on day three to announce it. No, good point. Yeah, good point. The gauntlet's been thrown down.

11:21in terms of retirement. What's she doing retiring before the game? Giving everybody good notice. Well, I think that just about wraps things up from us here at Lourdes today. Very, very special day. Wonderful to see the women get their just desserts and have a test match here at Lourdes. They don't play enough of them, but they've certainly enjoyed the occasion and the atmosphere here today. We'll be back with more tomorrow. At the moment, India, we all reckon, are just noses in front. but this one promises to be an excellent test match. Thanks for watching.