London: Smriti Mandhana scored a stylish 83 and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma both hit fifties as India scored 285 on the opening day of the first women’s Test against England at Lord’s.
India looked set to pass the 300-run total on the first day of the fourth day on Friday, with opener Mandhana (83) and captain Kaur (58) sharing 89 runs for the fourth wicket.
But Mandana fell short of becoming the first woman to score a Test century at the ‘home of cricket’ when he edged pacer Issy Wong, with wicketkeeper Amy Jones standing up to the stumps to take a brilliant catch.
And Kaur was bowled by a sharp turning off-break from England debutant Maddy Villiers in the last ball before tee.
India, who were 190-3 before Mandhana’s departure, lost the last four wickets for 11 runs as left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone (3-68) was bowled.
Before stumps, England opener Tommy Beaumont, who will retire from internationals after this match, was lbw to fast bowler Granti Goudin’s inswinger.
When Ecclestone scored Sayali Sadkare lbw for the first time, she surpassed the previous England record of 335 multi-format international wickets held by retired fast bowler Catherine Skiver-Brunt, wife of current England captain Nat Skiver-Brunt.
Only Indian duo Sharma (357 wickets) and Jhulan Goswami (355) are ahead of Ecclestone on the all-time list.
After 142 years — and 150 matches — of men’s Test cricket at Lord’s, the four-day tournament now represents another milestone in the evolution of the fast-growing women’s game.
The match is also taking place 50 years after the first major women’s match between England and Australia at the London Stadium.
On that day members of the England team gathered in the outfield on Friday to ring the five-minute bell, signaling the start of the game.
In contrast to that 1976 team, England played their second match at the ‘Home of Cricket’ less than a week after losing the T20 World Cup final to arch-rivals Australia on Sunday — knocking out eventual champions India in a group-stage match at Lord’s.
Fifty years ago, the women weren’t allowed to walk through the long room before taking the field, but on Friday they were cheered all the way as they made their way through the center of the pavilion for the pre-match anthems.
In a feat unimaginable to women cricketers of the amateur era, Mandana became the youngest woman to play 300 international games across all formats at 29 years and 357 days in Friday’s match.
But after England won the toss, Shafali Verma ducked Jones’ diving catch to Lauren Filer.
But Mandana, the left-hander, bowled Lauren Bell for several boundaries in typically elegant fashion and then slack-swept Ecclestone for a six.
Jemima Rodrigues helped Mandana to 64 for the third wicket before Wong was unfortunately dragged for 35.
Kaur — in the eighth Test of his long career — carved Bell to point for four and swept Villiers for another boundary.
In the build-up, the 37-year-old India great said the Women’s Test at Lord’s was “late but not too late” and Kaur scored a fine half-century off 99 balls, including 6 fours.