Key events
1st over: West Indies 4-0 (Grimmond 2, James 2) Lauren Bell with the new ball, debutant Realeanna Grimmond to face. She immediately picks up one and gets to the other end, heart (possibly) beating at triple pace, but calmly chewing gum, face poker straight. The commentators discuss Bell’s new action – wrist more behind the ball, body weight straighter.
The players are warming up and we’re almost good to go. I’d love to see West Indies go for this but they’re somewhat stymied without Hayley Matthews, who has a shoulder injury and is watching from the sidelines, wearing a sling.
Good news! Raf reports “Lots of blue in the sky! Rain has stopped. No more forecast.” Her mood may darken unless she locates some coffee soon though…
Thanks Rob, that was pretty awesome by England and a mixed bag from West Indies. The cameras have panned away from Grace Road for now, but I’m hoping to get a weather update from our eyes, ears and umbrella on the ground, Raf Nicholson, shortly.
That’s all from me. Tanya Aldred will be here in 20 minutes or so for the runchase, weather permitting. See you soon!
There was a whiff of groundhog innings about that England performance. In the first ODI at Derby, Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones made hundreds in a score of 345 for 6; today they did it again in a total of 366 for 6. At one stage 400 was on but West Indies’ spinners, particularly Afy Fletcher and Karishma Ramharack, did well to slow things down.
Beaumont is currently being interviewed. She has a heavy cold, which is going through the team and says she felt “pretty horrendous out there… I’m kinda proud of how I stuck at it mentally”.
WICKET! Capsey c Gajnabi b Alleyne 16
50th over: England 366-6 (Davidson-Richards 7) Capsey walks at Alleyne and chips a high-class boundary back over the bowler’s head. That makes this the highest ODI score against West Indies, beating India’s 358 for 5 at Vadodara late last year.
Capsey, dropped off the penultimate ball of the innings, then holes out to Gajnabi to end the innings. West Indies need 367 to win and the covers are coming on.
49th over: England 357-5 (Capsey 9, Davidson-Richards 5) Alice Davidson-Richards goes deep in the crease to back cut her first ball for four. She’ll keep the strike after a single from the final ball.
It’s now raining heavily in Leicester. The umpires will try to finish the innings.
WICKET! England 352-5 (Dunkley LBW b Fletcher 32)
Dunkley’s breezy 19-ball cameo ends when she misses a reverse sweep and is hit on the toe by a dipping delivery from Fletcher. Nicely bowled, and plumb.
Nine balls remaining.
48th over: England 351-4 (Dunkley 31, Capsey 8) Just when Glasgow is starting to think about a boundaryless over, Dunkley turns a full delivery into a full toss and pummels it straight for four. She must be a nightmare to bowl to because at her best she can hit the same delivery to two or three different parts of the boundary.
Despite the boundary it’s a good over from Glasgow – eight from it, two overs to go. Oh, and it has started mizzling.
47th over: England 343-4 (Dunkley 25, Capsey 7) Dunkley pull-sweeps Claxton cleverly behind square for four, then Capsey gets his first boundary with a wallop through midwicket. Twelve from the over; the record could still be on.
46th over: England 331-4 (Dunkley 18, Capsey 2) Dunkley charges Alleyne and pummels a short ball to the left of long-off for four. That’s a fine shot. An in-form Dunkley will be such a dangerous death-hitter because of her imagination and clean-hitting.
A lofted square drive goes for four more, the 43rd of the innings. England Women have only exceeded that three times in ODIs.
45th over: England 321-4 (Dunkley 9, Capsey 1)
WICKET! England 318-4 (Lamb c Grimmond b Glasgow 55)
Dunkley gets off the mark with a boundary after a misfield in the covers from Grimmond – who then takes a marvellous one-handed catch to get rid of Emma Lamb. That’s her second terrific take is as many overs.
Lamb played a lofted stroke that looked set to clear cover, only for Grimmond to throw up a telescopic left hand and take a belter.
44th over: England 311-3 (Lamb 55, Dunkley 0) I went too soon on that England ODI record – they now need 68 off the last six overs to beat it. Not impossible, but unlikely.
WICKET! England 308-3 (Sciver-Brunt c Grimmond b Alleyne 12)
Realeanna Grimmond takes a superb running catch at cow corner to give of Nat Sciver-Brunt. The ball made a lovely sound off the bat and looked set to go for six, but Grimmond judged the catch immaculately just inside the rope.
43rd over: England 305-2 (Lamb 50, Sciver-Brunt 12) Sciver-Brunt brings up England’s 300 with her first boundary, walking a long way across to drag Claxton past short fine leg. A trademark scoop, played from miles outside off stump, goes for four more.
The over ends with a stinging hit from Sciver-Brunt that Claxton can’t hold in her follow through. She hurts herself in the process and needs treatment at the end of the over; it looks like an impact injury rather than a break or dislocation.
42nd over: England 296-2 (Lamb 50, Sciver-Brunt 4) Lamb is playing some classy strokes now. She waves Fraser to the cover boundary to move into the forties, then slaps a back cut for four more. A single brings up a very assured half-century from 41 balls.
Those few overs she took to get her eye in were worth it; after making 13 from her first 20 balls, Lamb has scored 37 from the last 21.
41st over: England 284-2 (Lamb 39, Sciver-Brunt 3) A change of pace at the start of the last 10 overs. Claxton replaces Fletcher and sees her first ball flicked for four by Lamb. After that she does well to keep England to three from the last five deliveries.
40th over: England 277-2 (Lamb 32, Sciver-Brunt 3) Ramharack finishes with figures with 10-0-57-2, a good effort in the circumstances.
WICKET! England 273-2 (Beaumont c Gajnabi b Ramharack 106)
Beaumont carts a slog-sweep towards straight deep midwicket, where Ganjabi takes a good running catch and rolls over theatrically in celebration. The West Indies congratulate Beaumont on a fine innings: 106 from 109 balls with 12 fours and the six that brought up her hundred.
39th over: England 273-1 (Beaumont 106, Lamb 31) Now Emma Lamb is vrooming through the gears. She late cuts and back cuts two boundaries in three balls off Fletcher, who then spills a stinging return catch offered by Beaumont. She did pretty well just to stop the ball as it flew towards her face.
Beaumont brings up a century with a six!
38th over: England 261-1 (Beaumont 105, Lamb 20) That’s how to race through the nineties. Beaumont goes from 91 to 101 in two deliveries from Ramharack, a pull for four and the sweetest clip over wide long-on for six. A mighty clump to the same area makes it 14 from the last three balls of the over.
As we mentioned a while ago, this is the third time Beaumont has scored back-to-back hundreds in ODIs. No other player has done it more than once in women’s cricket.
37th over: England 245-1 (Beaumont 91, Lamb 19) Lamb gets her first boundary with a premeditated paddle off Fletcher, who is back in the attack in place of James. Four singles make it a useful over for England. They’ve slowed down since the dismissal of Amy Jones but are still on course for a huge score, maybe an England ODI record.
36th over: England 237-1 (Beaumont 89, Lamb 13) A quiet over from Ramharack to Lamb, who is probably hearing the first grumbles from her inner critic. She has 13 from 20 balls.
35th over: England 234-1 (Beaumont 89, Lamb 10) It looks like Beaumont is targeting Zaida James. A precise, firm sweep round the corner brings her another boundary, then a couple of well-struck shots don’t get past the infield.
34th over: England 228-1 (Beaumont 83, Lamb 10) Lamb almost walks past a delivery from Ramharack, who puts her hands to her head when the ball deflects to safety on the leg side. The two spinners, Ramharack and Fletcher, have bowled tidily; Ramharack almost gets her second wicket when Beaumont top-edges a sweep that bounces a few yards in front of deep square leg.
33rd over: England 224-1 (Beaumont 80, Lamb 8) Make that two boundaries in 21 overs for Beaumont, who has just played a deft reverse sweep off James. She’s 20 runs away from back-to-back ODI centuries for the third time in her career, which would be a remarkable achievement. Hence us remarking upon it.
32nd over: England 213-1 (Beaumont 74, Lamb 4) Lamb can afford to take a few overs to get her eye in, knowing that she should be able to catch up if she does so. That and Beaumont’s boundarylessness – only one in the last 20 overs – means we’re watching the most sedate period of the innings.
31st over: England 209-1 (Beaumont 72, Lamb 2) A quiet over from the returning Zaida James takes us once again to drinks.
30th over: England 204-1 (Beaumont 68, Lamb 1) Emma Lamb was padded up for 35.4 overs in the first ODI; today she’s in early after 29.2.
WICKET! England 202-1 (Jones ct and b Ramharack 129)
A quiet end to a terrific innings. Jones blasts the ball straight back at Ramharack, who takes a smart catch and does not celebrate one iota. Jones hit 20 fours in a career-best 129 from 98 balls.
Beaumont and Jones make historic 200 partnership
29th over: England 201-0 (Beaumont 66, Jones 129) Two more fours to Jones off Alleyne, a classy punch down the ground and an uppish slice that just clears backward point. If she’s still batting in the 40th over she will almost certainly have beaten Charlotte Edwards’ record for England’s highest ODI score, 173 not out I think.
Talking of records, a wide brings up England’s 200 and makes this pair the first in ODI history to have consecutive 200+ partnerships.
28th over: England 188-0 (Beaumont 65, Jones 118) No sign yet of acceleration from Beaumont, who has scored only 35 from her last 56 deliveries. In the grand scheme it shouldn’t matter but she must be getting slightly frustrated.
27th over: England 184-0 (Beaumont 63, Jones 116) Jones gets her 18th four with a beautifully placed clip through midwicket off Alleyne. That placement has been one of the main features of this tremendous innings: 116 from 88 balls now.
“Hi Rob,” says Ant Pease. ““I find Amy Jones’ centuries to be very much like London buses; significantly more likely to turn up in Derby or Leicester than London.”
26th over: England 176-0 (Beaumont 61, Jones 109) Jones drives Ramharack down the ground for one four, thanks to a bad misfield on the boundary. Not sure who it was but they made precisely no eye contact with Ramharack in the aftermath.
25th over: England 169-0 (Beaumont 60, Jones 104) Aaliyah Alleyne becomes West Indies’ seventh bowler in this innings. They are facing an unwanted record here; the highest ODI score against West Indies is the 358 that India made last year.
Beaumont cuts wristily behind square for four, which prompts Simon Doull to talk about “breaking the wrists” and I really do wish commentators would stop using that phrase because HAVE YOU EVER BROKEN A BLOODY WRIST I MEAN I HAVEN’T BUT I CAN’T IMAGINE IT’S MUCH FUN AND EVERY TIME THEY SAY I FEEL A BIT SICK AND IT CERTAINLY HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH DEFT STROKEPLAY I MEAN CAN YOU IMAGINE DROPPING THAT ONE INTO CONVERSATION IN A&E ON A BUSY DAY YES DOCTOR WE HAVE A PATIENT WITH TWO BROKEN WRISTS, HE’S BATTING BEAUTIFULLY AND IS 84 NOT OUT FROM 67 CAN YOU WAIT FOR HIM TO GET HIS HUNDRED FIRST MAYBE GO AND HAVE A LOOK AT THAT BLOKE OVER THERE WITH GOUT WHO REALLY SHOULD BE IN THE MINOR INJURIES UNIT IF I’M HONEST
That’s one way of looking at it anyway.
Jones strokes superb 76-ball hundred
24th over: England 163-0 (Beaumont 55, Jones 103) Jones skips down the pitch to drive Ramharack high over the off side. It looks set to go for four, which would have brought up her hundred, only for Fraser to make another terrific stop.
No matter: Jones pings the next ball crisply through extra cover to bring up a fabulous hundred from only 76 balls. She’s hit 16 fours, all round the ground, and has played with a relaxed certainty that is pretty rare in any form of international cricket.
Jones waited 4501 days from her debut to score her first ODI hundred. The second came six days later.