After losing the IT20 Tri-Series final against Australia, England have moved on to Nagpur to take on India in three One-Day Internationals (ODIs).
The matches are not part of the ICC Women’s Championship, meaning head coach Mark Robinson has the chance to try a few things and test his team’s depth.
But what kind of team will he pick, and with news of an addition to the squad how will England balance winning and development?
Warm-up win
England won their 50-over warm-up, beating India A by four wickets at the VCA Stadium earlier today, but the nature of the game gave little away with regards to England’s plans.
Heather Knight missed the game – still nursing the hamstring she injured in England’s final IT20 Tri-Series group game – so the returning Anya Shrubsole deputised.
She was economical, as were Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley and Sophie Ecclestone, but it was an innings in which India A were reluctant to be too aggressive.
Danni Wyatt’s good form in IT20 cricket earned her a spot at the top of the order and she continued to impress with a brisk 43 before retiring to give other players time at the crease.
Tammy Beaumont also registered a half-century before she retired, and England passed the total six wickets down to secure a comfortable victory. They went on to reach 252 in the 50th over.
Captaincy questions
Knight’s hamstring is problematic enough that Georgia Elwiss has been called up as cover ahead of the first ODI.
That leaves the possibility that Shrubsole will be captaining her first competitive game for England, should Knight not be passed fit.
“We have a few concerns around Heather’s hamstring so we wanted the cover of an experienced batting all-rounder,” explained Robinson.
“Georgia gives us another option. She’s in India as she’s been working independently in Mumbai with one of our coaches so it made sense to extend her stay and add her to the squad.”
New caps?
The first IT20 at Mumbai saw England hand out three new caps – and there’s a chance that there could be a similar situation during this series.
Whether Robinson decides to pick all three of Alice Davidson-Richards, Katie George and Bryony Smith in the first game as he did in Mumbai remains to be seen but they will all have high hopes of making their ODI debut at some point in Nagpur.
ODI comforts
With the ICC World T20 on the horizon it has been vital for England to test their IT20 skills but they’ll also be glad to return to 50-over cricket.
As their World Cup victory showed in the summer it’s a format they’re strong in, and having played no competitive IT20 cricket between the summer of 2016 and last winter’s Ashes the shortest form remains something of an unknown quantity – which is perhaps an explanation for their inconsistency in Mumbai.
That at least means England will feel a bit more at home across their next three games – which may be of importance given their relative lack of experience.
The pitch is back
It’s unclear at this stage what the pitch at Nagpur will be like.
The pitch for the warm-up was tired, low and took a fair amount of turn – unlike the pitches at Mumbai which generally were in favour of the batters – and it made scoring quite difficult.
If Nagpur is able to generate a crowd like Baroda did (there were 12,000 at the Australia-India ODIs) they could witness some traditional and attritional 50-over cricket, while England will be happy to get tested on tacky tracks – it may be what awaits them in the West Indies in October’s World T20.
Schedule
6 April – 1st ODI: India v England, Nagpur
9 April – 2nd ODI: India v England, Nagpur
12 April – 3rd ODI: India v England, Nagpur