Smriti Mandhana was forced to leave the field unwell, but her sixth fifty in nine matches set the tone before Mithali Raj’s record 50th half-century and Deepti Sharma’s effort completed a sensible chase of 202 on Thursday, April 12.

India backed up a disciplined bowling performance. Amy Jones’ 94 propped up England’s 201/9, but only one other visiting batter scored more than 20.

Anya Shrubsole, whose six wickets in the World Cup final between the same teams last year had made her one of three players in the team to be named Wisden Cricketers of the Year, got England two early wickets.

Jones, coming into this game with two ducks in the series so far, was dropped twice before she got to 30. Growing in confidence, she brought up her fifty with a swept four and kept the scoreboard ticking even as wickets tumbled around her.

A maiden century was in sight, but she was run out on 94 on the last ball of the innings. Having hurt her hamstring, she could only hobble down the pitch and couldn’t take her position behind the stumps in the Indian innings.

India’s Harmanpreet Kaur too picked up an injury to her finger, but with the rest of the batters doing their job, the hosts weren’t unduly concerned.