Key events<\/p>\n
20th over: India 102-3 (Smriti 50, Kaur 0) Ecclestone turns the screw a little more, England have restored an element of control to a morning that was running away from them.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 19th over: India 101-3 (Smriti 50) Reward for Wong, whose radar is righting itself, though a shame to see the end of the entertaining Rodrigues.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.42 EDT<\/p>\n WICKET! Rodrigues b Wong 35 (India 101-3)<\/p>\n Rodrigues stretches to drive a wide ball that slumbers a little low, gets a thick inside edge which clatters into the stumps.<\/p>\n Issy Wong celebrates with team-mates after taking the wicket of Jemimah Rodrigues. Photograph: Nigel French\/PA Photograph: Keeran Marquis\/SPP\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.43 EDT<\/p>\n 18th over: India 99-2 (Smriti 50, Jemimah 33) A maiden! Plaudits to Sophie Ecclestone. The first of the day. Whether that is evidence of a game evolving or some wayward England bowling I\u2019ll leave up to you.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.41 EDT<\/p>\n 17th over: India 99-2 (Smriti 50, Jemimah 33) Better from Wong who shimmies past Jemimah\u2019s outside edge; but then she delivers something inviting and wide and Rodrigues dispatches with a piercing prong.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Fifty for Smriti Mandhana!<\/p>\n 16th over: India 93-2 (Smriti 50, Jemimah 27) Tick those milestones off \u2013 the first fifty partnership in a women\u2019s Lord\u2019s Test – from just 49 balls. Then, with a couple off the leg side, a first fifty \u2013 aptly to the glorious Smriti, eight fours, one six, a run a ball history-making treat.<\/p>\n Smriti Mandhana acknowledges the crowd after reaching her fifty. Photograph: Nigel French\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.33 EDT<\/p>\n 15th over: India 86-2 (Smriti 44, Jemimah 26) Wong returns for a third over, running away from the straw hats and fans in the rows of seats outside the pavilion. Lovely, liquid run up and action. Just three from it but the radar still isn\u2019t quite on target.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.26 EDT<\/p>\n 14th over: India 83-2 (Smriti 44, Jemimah 23) Just a couple from Ecclestone\u2019s over.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 13th over: India 81-2 (Smriti 43, Jemimah 22) Nearly a maiden from Wong, until she sprays a full toss and Jemimah says, yes please. Four. On the flag poles of the dressing rooms the Indian and England flags blow in the cross wind.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 12th over: India 77-2 (Smriti 43, Jemimah 18) The players pause for drinks after a first hour that has rattled along. Three dots start Ecclestone\u2019s second over but it finishes with a blazing slog-swept six from Smriti which is roared along by the Indian fans.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 11th over: India 68-2 (Smriti 37, Jemimah 15) A double change, Issy Wong from the pavilion end \u2013 first ball driven through cover for four. Another four as a full toss is spanked square. India not overawed by the occasion.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 10th over: India 59-2 (Smriti 33, Jemimah 10) Ecclestone time! Long sleeved white shirt, long blond plait down her back, sunglasses. From the nursery end. Doesn\u2019t find her line straight away and Smriti, with a large forward, picks up four through backward point, then another, cut with just enough finesse . An lbw appeal to finish which looks optimistic. Sue says no, and so does Sciver-Brunt to the review.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.55 EDT<\/p>\n 9th over: India 49-2 (Smriti 32, Jemimah 1) A more miserly over from Bell, just four from it.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.50 EDT<\/p>\n 8th over: India 45-2 (Smriti 29, Jemimah 1) Smriti is hitting at a run a ball here, two of the most gorgeous pulls hit with velvety sweetness off Filer.<\/p>\n Hello Guy Hornsby: \u201cWhat a day this is, Tanya. There have been so many wonderful moments already: Anya Shrubsole greeting former team mates in the Long Room as they walked out in whites, the incredible group of former players ringing the bell (with especial mention of Enid Bakewell, still playing at 82!) from the most venerable to recent retirees like Katherine Sciver-Brunt.<\/p>\n \u201cI have happy tears in my eyes. It is, of course long, long overdue, and I felt the MCC and Lords\u2019 PR machine this last weeks grated, given they didn\u2019t want the women playing the long form there for so much of the last 100 years. I think we can be happy and critical at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n Well said. But I think there has been real change and so much thanks goes to people like Claire Taylor and our own Emma John who have been quietly working behind the scenes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.49 EDT<\/p>\n WICKET! Yastikaa b Bell 12 (India 37-2)<\/p>\n 7th over: India 37-2-1 (Smriti 21) A gorgeous, kalaeidoscope of a ball, full and nips down the slope straight through Yastiakaa! Relief and reward for Bell who had started to look disheartened after being struck for successive fours by Smriti.<\/p>\n Lauren Bell dismisses Yastiakaa. Photograph: Paul Dennis\/TGS Photo\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.52 EDT<\/p>\n 6th over: India 28-1 (Smriti 12, Yastikaa 12) Some clouds have drifted over to give the crowd a bit of respite from the sun. Filer sprints in from the Nursery end, orange heels kicking behind her. Smriti and Yastika are wary, defensive. Interesting listening to Steven Finn on TMS saying female bowlers won\u2019t aid the pitch\u2019s disintegration in quite the same way as the men because they\u2019re slower and from a different \u2013 skiddier \u2013 trajectory.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 5th over: India 26-1 (Smriti 12, Yastikaa 11) Smriti, gloriously, licks her lips and trills a wayward Bell twice through the covers for four.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.31 EDT<\/p>\n 4th over: India 17-1 (Smriti 4, Yastikaa 11) A no ball to start Filer\u2019s over. The rest is fast and alternatively short and pitched up.<\/p>\n \u201cGood morning\u201d \u2013 hello John Starbuck! \u201cThe fireworks are, presumably, because they\u2019ve always (!) done it. Taking no account of the conditions (intense sunshine) is what traditionalists do best. Sad to see Freya Kemp didn\u2019t make the team, though.\u201d Hopefully her time will come. Shame not to see Charlie Dean too, who was rested but I think is playing for Somerset instead.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3rd over: India 15-1 (Smriti 3, Yastikaa 11) Yastikaa isn\u2019t hanging around \u2013clips two fours off Bell, one through square leg, one through backward point.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.24 EDT<\/p>\n 2nd over: India 5-1 (Smriti 3, Bhatia 1) There\u2019s England\u2019s future, right there, Lauren Filer firing balls down at 70mph plus. Varma done by a belter. Bathetically, Filer follows up with a full toss. It was a slow start but there is now a good crowd filling the bottom layer of the grand stand, and the pavilion is PACKED.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.21 EDT<\/p>\n WICKET! Verma c Jones b Filer 0 (India 4-1)<\/p>\n A 72mph zinger! Shanks back in and there\u2019s nothing a defending Varma can do about it.<\/p>\n Lauren Filer strikes early! Photograph: Stu Forster\/ECB\/Getty ImagesShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.28 EDT<\/p>\n 1st over: India 4-0 (Smriti 3, Verma 0) Bell with the first over. She puts her marker down and Sciver Brunt runs up to give her a final pat for luck. Bell\u2019s last outing here on Sunday wasn\u2019t her best but she\u2019s on the money straight away here, skimming past Smriti\u2019s outside edge. Smriti picks up a couple through the covers and we\u2019re off!<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.24 EDT<\/p>\n Of course Sue Redfern is officiating.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Oh wow, this is amazing, fifty female ex England cricketers are on the outfield to ring the bell which has been brought out on a table. Alex Hartley, Isa Guha, Lynne Thomas, Nat Sciver Brunt, Charlotte Edwards and many more. Enid Bakewell and other members of the team who first played here in 1976 do the honours.<\/p>\n Then two teams in whites walk through the Long Room and out through the pavilion gate. Anthems. Then fireworks and flames (a pet peeve but why?!).<\/p>\n Photograph: Nigel French\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.28 EDT<\/p>\n India XI<\/p>\n India: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Yastika Bhatia Harmnpreet Kaur (c), Jemima Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Sayali Satghare, Sneh Rana N Shree Charani, Kranti Gaud<\/p>\n A debut for 21 year old slow left armer N Shree Charani adds to the strong spin hand.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.55 EDT<\/p>\n England XI<\/p>\n England: Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight, Nat Sciver-Brunt (c), Alice Capsey, Amy Jones (wk), Maddy Villiers, Sophie Ecclestone, Issy Wong, Lauren Bell, Lauren Filer.<\/p>\n Excited to see Filer getting a game after carrying the drinks around the World Cup, and Villiers has been knocking on the door in domestic cricket.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.43 EDT<\/p>\n England have won the toss and will bowl!<\/p>\n Harmanpreet Kaur and Nat Sciver-Brunt are in their blazers. England will bowl, in the heat.<\/p>\n \u201cI think its a surface that has to last four days,\u201d says Sciver Brunt. \u201cIt should be a good surface but the most we can get out of it will be this morning.\u201d \u2013 Test debuts for Alice Capsey and Maddy Villiers.<\/p>\n \u201cIt feels like a great opportunity,\u201d says Harmanpreet, \u201cand it is amazing to be part of it.\u201d A Test debut for Shree Charani.<\/p>\n