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Preamble
You wait ages for a banger of a bilateral, then two turn up at once.
Though England and India are two teams still seeking themselves, in the meantime, they are both fine teams, in the process of serving us a terrific series. It’s easy to make a case for both to take it today, as it is for almost every player of the 22 to make the crucial contribution. We play sport partly to find out what’s going to happen when we do, and anyone confidently predicting the outcome of this contest is bluffing.
There are players in form – for England, Sophia Dunkley, Alice Davidson-Richards, Amy Jones and, of course, Sophie Ecclestone, with Sneh Rana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma and Smriti Mandhana at it for India. But there are also players who’ve yet to fully figure but rarely let a series go by without a major contribution – Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver-Brunt for the hosts, Harmanpreet Kaur for the tourists. Any one of them could be definitive today, likewise someone we’ve not named – we just don’t know, which is what makes this match so exciting.
Likewise, the imminent World Cup: everything that happens today is building towards that, with players jockeying for position and units looking to cement themselves. For the teams, there’s a series on the line, but the players are playing for their futures. This is going to be great.
Play: 1pm BST
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