Key events
2nd over: Sri Lanka 17-0 (Atapattu 8, Gunaratne 8) Before the review, the first ball from Filer to Gunaratne was carved away for four… lovely shot. By the end of the over, Filer is banging it in shorter at 74mph, the length where she found plenty of pace and two wickets in two balls on Saturday. But Gunaratne picks the right ball to go away, the final of the over, driven away through covers for four. Top start!
NOT OUT! Not one of Heather’s finest call to use DRS there. More to the point, it takes some guts to challenge a decision made by Anna Harris – the best going.
England review for a catch down the legside. Filer’s second ball to Gunaratne.
1st over: Sri Lanka 9-0 (Atapattu 8, Gunaratne 0) Ooh, Cross nearly slips one between bat and pad to begin but a thick inside edge runs away for four instead. Far more convincing from Atapattu later in the over, crunching a cover drive right out the middle of the bat to the rope again. Sri Lanka’s superstar captain is away. Nice finish from Cross though, beating her outside the off stump, angling away.
The players are on the field! 30 minutes after the scheduled start but better late than never with rain about at Northampton. Kate Cross to bowl the first over.
The teams as named…
England: Tammy Beaumont, Maia Bouchier, Heather Knight (c), Nat Sciver-Brunt, Alice Capsey, Alice Davidson-Richards, Amy Jones (wk), Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Kate Cross, Lauren Filer
Maia Bouchier, the third player who made her England ODI on Saturday, is given a promotion in Emma Lamb’s absence, opening as she did in the T20s last week.
Sri Lanka Chamari Athapaththu (c), Harshitha Samarawickrama, Vishmi Gunaratne, Hansima Karunaratne, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Oshadi Ranasinghe, Inoka Ranaweera, Achini Kulasuriya, Hasini Perera, Kawya Kavindi
Really happy for Alice Davidson-Richards. One of the really good people in cricket, brought into the squad and team on the back of a ton in the Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy a few days ago. I interviewed ADR on The Final Word pod in July about the advocacy work she’s been doing for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Charlie Dagnall isn’t thrilled that they’ve rested Mahika Gaur. As he points out, she only bowled 6.2 overs and that was three days ago. Anyway, it opens the door for classy off-spinner Charlie Dean, who returns to the England XI.
Atapattu says Sri Lanka would’ve bowled first. Says 240 would be a good score.
Heather Knight has won the toss, England are bowling
Mahika Gaur has been rested, Alice Davidson-Richards into the XI.
Emma Lamb is missing with a back spasm. And Danni Gibson will miss the rest of the series with what the ECB are describing as a ‘minor’ side strain.
Full teams in a sec.
Sky reporting it’ll be a 1pm start. So, that’ll be a toss at 12:30pm.
A nice clip from Saturday. Generation Next has arrived.
Delayed toss confirmed. Nick Knight says on Sky that there hasn’t been loads of rain but the covers are still on. Oh, and there’s more rain scheduled for later. Urgh.
Welcome to the 2nd ODI between England and Sri Lanka
Adam Collins
Hello. England were clinical in the series opener in Durham on Saturday, bowling out the visitors inside 31 overs and knocking off the 107 they were set in 18 overs. After losing two T20s in a row to cough up the earlier series – one of the biggest upsets in women’s cricket history – this felt like something of a return to normal.
But if there’s something in the Wantage Road surface for spinners, Sri Lanka have demonstrated what a handful they can be. That’ll surely be the Plan A for Chamari Atapattu’s side: bowl first, get into them. But I’m afraid to report that it is currently raining in Northampton, so in all probability it will be a delayed toss.
The real stars for Heather Knight’s side in their big weekend win were the two bowlers on ODI debut – Mahika Gaur and Lauren Filer. From the moment I saw the former bowl in a T20 tournament in Hong Kong earlier this year, it was clear she has all the tools to be a worldbeater: swing, accuracy and height. Her delivery to knock over Atapattu on Saturday combined the lot, finishing with three wickets.
As for Filer, it’s genuine pace that she brings, the three scalps of her own all a function of having a extra gear, one wicket-taking ball clocked at 76mph. Speed, of course, isn’t everything. But on the available evidence of what we’ve seen from the right-armer this summer, England have their new spearhead.
