Danni Wyatt shone on his 150th record-breaking international Twenty20 appearance as England kicked off their first tour of India in four years with an impressive 38-run victory in Mumbai. Wyatt hit 75 and Nat Sciver-Brunt made 77, with the pair sharing a winning position in an imposing total of 197 for six.
Sophie Ecclestone made sure that her work was not wasted and supplemented the result with figures from three to 15 when she returned after a four-month absence due to a shoulder health issue.
Wyatt started the match as the first English cricketer to reach Cape landmark, but soon found herself in a junkyard at Wankhede Stadium, losing two batting partners in the first round of the day and even before the opening match was over.
Renuka Singh was responsible for her team’s good start by bowling Sophia Dunkley over a deflection of the bat and then knocking down Alice Capsey for a golden duck when she abducted stump with a beauty. Wyatt and Sciver-Brunt were unimpressed by the double backhand, putting up 138 balls from the next 87.
Wyatt hit eight fours and two sixes, the first a slog sweep over Deepti Sharma and the second a big swing over a long power from debutante Shreyanka Patil. Sciver-Brunt added her own boundaries at 13 as the scoreboard progressed, but Wyatt’s 47-ball action ended with five overs remaining when she was confused by newcomer Saika Ishaque.
The captain Heather Knight fell inexpensively and Sciver-Brunt was caught in the 19th, but Amy Jones ensured an action-packed ending by scoring 23 from nine balls at the gone.
Sciver-Brunt was again in the middle at the starting of the pursuit, took third place and forced a mistake of the harmful Smriti Mandhana, who was knocked down in the middle of the stump. Shafali Verma collected a handful of fours as she kept India in touch at the required rate, but when Freya Kemp had Jemima Rodrigues catch up on the last power play, it was another big boost for the tourists’ cause.
India was expecting a big position in the middle of Verma and Harmanpreet Kaur, with the latter appearing to be in poor health for a short time before Ecclestone’s arrival heralded the end. The left-arm spinner had not played since her shoulder dislocation in August but only needed one look before throwing Kaur over an inside edge.
