Lord’s Test Day 1: India Women stutter for 285 but strike late to keep hosts at bay

India Women endured a frustrating collapse after three half-centuries but ended the opening day of the one-off Test against England on a positive note, dismissing Tammy Beaumont late on to leave the hosts 21 for 1 in reply at stumps at Lord’s on Friday.

Trailing by 285 after India looked set for a significantly bigger total, they bowled debutant pacer Kranti Gouda in the closing stages to ensure England headed back to the dressing room still trailing by 264 runs.

ENG-W vs IND-W, Lord’s Test Day 1: Highlights | Scorecard

India’s innings was built on fluent knocks from Smriti Mandhana (83), skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (58) and all-rounder Deepti Sharma (57), but none of the batsmen managed to convert their starts into match-defining centuries.

After being asked to bat, India suffered an early setback as Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia departed in the first seven overs, reducing the visitors to 37 for 2.

Mandhana steadied the innings in the company of Jemimah Rodrigues, who played an enterprising knock of 35 off 38 deliveries. The pair added 64 runs for the third wicket, shifting the momentum back in India’s favor with a positive stroke play.

Mandhana looked particularly confident against both pace and spin as she took on Lauren Filer in succession before blasting Sophie Ecclestone over mid-wicket for a six. Rodrigues matched her intent at the other end before her aggressive approach brought her down when Issa Wong’s attempted bounce ended with the ball clipping the stumps with an inside edge.

With Rodrigues gone, Harmanpreet joined Mandhana to form India’s most substantial partnership of the innings. Their 89-run stand for the fourth wicket put England under sustained pressure as both batsmen rotated the strike well and punished everything that was lost.

Mandhana looked well set for another Test century but fell to 83 after Wonga fell behind to wicketkeeper Amy Jones. Harmanpreet, who looked increasingly comfortable as the innings progressed, also fell short of a bigger score when Mady Villiers produced a sharp drop to bowl the Indian skipper just before tea.

India went into the interval on 202 for 5 with the lead still firmly in their hands, but England fought back mightily in the final over.

Deepti again proved her worth in the lower middle order, putting together a composed half-century and sharing a useful 45-run partnership with Sneh Rana to take India past the 250-run mark. However, regular wickets prevented India from putting up the kind of total that looked possible as they cruised along at 190 for 3.

England’s bowlers tightened their ranks after tea, with Ecclestone claiming three wickets to become England’s leading wicket-taker in international cricket, overtaking Katherine Sciver-Brunt’s 335 wickets. Wong and Villiers also made early breakthroughs as India lost their remaining seven wickets for just 95 runs to be dismissed for 285.

England’s reply got off to a nervous start as Kranti Goud struck early to dismiss Beaumont for just two, giving India a perfect end to the day. Maya Bouchier remained unbeaten on 17 with Heather Knight on one at the stumps but England still face a sizeable first innings deficit.

While India will be disappointed not to cross the 300-run mark after the solid foundations laid by Mandhana and Harmanpreet, a late breakthrough ensured they finished the opening day with momentum. With help for the spinners already evident at Lord’s, India will hope to make more inroads with the ball when play resumes on Day 2.

– The end

Issued by:

Amar Panicker

Published on:

11 Jul 2026 0:22 IST