After years, England Women cricket team will be hosting the Indian counterparts in a solo test, scheduled on August 13, 2014 at Wormsley. The match starts off at 11:00 Local Time (3.30 p.m. India time).
This is going to be a tough batter for India as they face the home team after a span of eight years. The entire England Women team has been in great form in both tests and ODIs, proving themselves on more than one occasion.
Indian women have to watch out for the action, given that there are three One-Day Internationals that will soon follow. Things have changed for both sides since their last test.
India Women won the toss and elected to field.
When last reports came in, the England score was 49/5. Follow the live scores on Cricinfo.com here.
England women have seen some real wins in the last few months, something that will keep the spirits going. Adding to that, they did secure the third spot in the last ICC Women’s World Cup and were runners up in ICC Women’s World Twenty20.
The live updates of the Test are also available on Sky Sports official website here.
For India, much of the action depends on skipper and star player Mithali Raj, who remains the hope of the team in many ways.
India playing XI: MDT Kamini, S Mandhana, PG Raut, M Raj, H Kaur, KV Jain, J Goswami, N Niranjana, S Pandey, S Sharma and E Bisht.
Jhulan Goswami and Karu Jain have played at Taunton, but apart from the three, none are experienced in the test cricket, something that may cripple the experience factor of the whole team.
The Indian women team plays with no central contracts, and players here are more accustomed to playing in breaks between jobs, where they are given time for training and competition. The semi-professional attitude has it flaws.
While BCCI has done their part is supporting the current tour, there is a need of serious investment here, something that has been missing in women cricket in India.
Undoubtedly, the England counterparts have much better sponsors and training to their side. Predictions at this level should be best avoided, but the Indian side has a serious chance to prove here.