Medium-pacer Kranti Gaud made an early breakthrough by dismissing veteran opener Tammy Beaumont in her final international match. Despite this, England reached 21/1 in 11 overs at stumps, trailing India by 264 runs on the competitive first day of the inaugural women’s Test at Lord’s. After bowling out India for 285, England’s openers faced a challenging spell from the Indian bowlers.
In the fourth over, Kranti bowled a superb delivery that trapped Tammy Beaumont (2) leg-before-wicket. Although the decision was not reviewed, replays showed it would have hit the stumps. Kranti almost took a second wicket in the eighth over when an appeal against Heather Knight was turned down. Replays later confirmed that the ball would have hit the stumps.
Maia Bouchier, the other opener, played watchfully and managed to hit a boundary off a loose delivery in the ninth over. India’s Harmanpreet Kaur introduced spin through Sneh Rana in the penultimate over, which was a maiden. In the final over of the day, Maia scored another boundary off Kranti to finish the day unbeaten on 17, with Heather Knight on one.
