England pulled off a thrilling five-run victory against India at The Oval, keeping the T20I series alive at 2-1. With 12 needed in the final over, Lauren Bell held her nerve and dismissed Indian skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on the last ball, sealing the win.
Dunkley and Filer Star in Dramatic Finish
Sophia Dunkley led England’s charge with 75 off 53 balls, helping the hosts reach 171-9 after an opening stand of 137 with Danni Wyatt-Hodge. However, a dramatic collapse saw England lose 9 wickets for 31 runs.
“𝑰𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒔𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒎𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅-𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒎𝒎𝒚 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒕.
India, in response, were cruising at 123-1 before Lauren Filer’s fiery spell turned the match. She removed both Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana, clocking her fastest T20 speeds and shifting momentum.
“𝑹𝒐𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒖𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅. 𝑭𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒕,” 𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒍𝒚𝒔𝒕𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒅.
Series Still Alive
Despite Harmanpreet’s late push, India fell just short at 166-5. She admitted,
“𝑾𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 16𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒂 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓𝒚.”
With two matches left, England will look to carry their momentum to Old Trafford in the fourth T20.