England fast bowler Lauren Bell has said that a rare off day with the ball for left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone put additional pressure on the bowling unit in the one-off women’s Test against India in Mumbai.
Following a three-day gap after the final T20I, Ecclestone struggled to find consistency in lines and lengths and returned figures of 1 for 85 off 22 overs, the most expensive among the bowlers used on day one. She managed to dismiss debutant Satheesh Shubha, who miscued a pull shot to short midwicket.
“Sophie is human and is not going to be unbelievable [by] taking ten wickets every day,” Bell said. “She’s obviously come back from a big [right shoulder] injury. It’s impressive that she is out there and she will bounce back. It puts pressure on us.
“[Conditions were] tough as a fast bowler out there. As a group, we have come together, and it is no one person’s responsibility. We are a close-knit unit and we’ll try and get them together.”
India posted 410 for 7, the second-highest total in a single day of a women’s Test, after opting to bat first with half-centuries from Shubha, Jemimah Rodrigues, Yastika Bhatia and Deepti Sharma. There were 100-run partnerships between Shubha and Rodrigues – 115 for the third wicket – and Harmanpreet Kaur and Bhatia – 116 for the fifth wicket, and a 92-run stand for the seventh wicket between Deepti and Sneh Rana.
Bell, who dismissed Smriti Mandhana and Rodrigues, said that the pitch became flatter as the day wore on and India’s left-right batting partnerships made it tough for England.
“I am used to swinging the ball but it didn’t swing loads upfront,” she said. “Later on it swung for me and we got a bit of movement off the pitch. It’s definitely gotten a bit flatter and is tough to bowl. You’ve just got to attack the stumps and keep them in play as much as possible.
“Having left-right [batting combinations] definitely added to the challenge. You have to keep changing lines constantly as a bowler.”
Bell is on her first bilateral tour of India as an England cricketer but was part of UP Warriorz – coached by England head coach Jon Lewis – in the Women’s Premier League in 2023. While she did not get a game in the tournament, she worked on “getting stronger, quicker and more skilful” after flying home to the UK.
“The more times I get to play in front of crowds in big pressure moments, in important times, it helps as a cricketer,” she said. “It pushes my game on. As a cricketer I needed to get stronger and more skilful. I wanted to get stronger, get quicker. I wanted to prolong my spells and get more skills in my armour.”
None of us thought Harmanpreet was out, says Bell
India captain Harmanpreet was on 49 when she pushed a delivery from offspinner Charlie Dean towards covers and took a few steps down for a run before retreating. Danni Wyatt got around from point and, in a bid to return the ball to the wicketkeeper, effected a direct hit at the striker’s end. Tammy Beaumont, standing at short leg, and Amy Jones put in a polite enquiry that was referred upstairs.
The players began returning to their fielding spots when replays showed Harmanpreet’s bat getting stuck outside the crease when the bails were dislodged.
“We had no idea,” Bell said of the dismissal. “Danni had gone back to deep point and none of us thought it was out. And suddenly Danni’s on the boundary line [and celebrating]. That was a big surprise and quite welcoming.”
It was the second time this year that Harmanpreet was out in this manner. The first was in the semi-final of the T20 World Cup against Australia earlier this year, where India collapsed after her wicket and went on to lose by five runs. Harmanpreet was very ill in the lead-up to that game.
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