ENG-W vs IND-W Preview | Must-win game for England Women to keep 2022 redemption hopes alive

Last Friday at 7:00 PM

The second ODI of the three-match series between England Women and India Women will be held at Lord's Cricket Ground on Saturday. While the game will be a must-win for the hosts, the Indian side will be looking to seal the series at the Mecca of Cricket after cruising to a win in the opener.

‌The Indian Women's side, under the leadership of Harmanpreet Kaur, started their series with an incredible four-wicket win in the opening fixture at the Rose Bowl in Southampton, on the back of a brilliant unbeaten half century by star all-rounder Deepti Sharma. The Women in Blue will now be eyeing their second consecutive series win at England in the upcoming venture, which will be played at the iconic Lord’s cricket ground.

While the visitors will be high on confidence, the Three Lionesses led by Nat Sciver-Brunt, might have to go back to the drawing board after a disappointing start to the series. There were some great performances with the bat by Sophia Dunkley and Alice Davidson-Richards, who helped them reach a decent total, but their bowlers failed to make crucial breakthroughs which cost them the game. The next encounter will be a do-or-die fixture for the home side since a loss will not only cost them the series, but also ruin their chances of redemption for the 2022 ODI series where they suffered a 3-0 whitewash against the Women in Blue.

Form Guide

ENG-W: L W W W L

IND-W: W W W L W

ENG-W vs IND-W Head-to-Head in ODIs

Though the Indian team has been in great form on this tour, the England side still has an advantage over them in the head-to-head battles in the 77 games the two teams have featured in, with the hosts winning 40 games and the visitors winning 35 encounters.

ENG-W 40-35 IND-W

Pitch and Weather

The surface at Lord's has been known to be a ground where pacers get a lot of assistance with great seam movement and extra bounce, making it tough for batters to score runs freely. In the 16 one-day games played in Women’s international cricket here, the team batting first has been victorious on nine occasions while the team chasing has won six, suggesting that defending a score might be an ideal choice on this wicket.

The weather conditions in London do not look promising, as there are high chances of rain throughout the day at the venue with the expected temperature being 22 degrees Celsius.

Team News

Going into the upcoming game at the Mecca of cricket, the England Women’s side might be forced to replace Charlotte Dean with Em Arlott due to the seaming conditions at the venue.

India Women might also make a change according to the conditions, replacing up and coming left-arm spinner Shree Charani for Arundhati Reddy to give them the extra seam option in the lineup.

England Women Probable XI: Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones(w), Emma Lamb, Nat Sciver-Brunt(c), Sophia Dunkley, Alice Davidson Richards, Em Arlott, Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer, Lauren Bell.

India Women Probable XI: Pratika Rawal, Smriti Mandhana, Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur(c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh(w), Deepti Sharma, Amanjot Kaur, Sneh Rana, Arundhatti Reddy, Kranti Goud.