Category News

Fifth T20, Edgbaston

India 167-7 (20 overs): Verma 75 (41); Dean 3-23

England 168-5 (20 overs): Wyatt-Hodge 56 (36); Sharma 2-31

England won by five wickets; India win series 3-2

England claimed a consolation win in the final T20 of the series against India as they edged a last-ball thriller at Edgbaston.

Chasing 168, England needed six from the final over with seven wickets in hand, but lost stand-in captain Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones to leave one run needed from the final delivery.

Sophie Ecclestone and Paige Scholfield scampered the single to survive the scare and seal a five-wicket win, though Ecclestone would have been run out with a direct hit from Jemimah Rodrigues at mid-off.

The tense finish concluded England’s highest successful chase in a home T20, which was set up by Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s 56 from 36 balls on her 300th international appearance in an opening stand of 101 with Sophia Dunkley.

Beaumont’s 30 seemed to set up England’s push for victory, but she was bowled from the first ball of Arundhati Reddy’s closing over and Jones was dismissed by a phenomenal catch from Radha Yadav on the mid-wicket boundary.

Earlier, opener Shafali Verma played a lone hand in India’s 167-7 with a sensational 75 from 41 balls.

Verma whacked 13 fours and a six in her knock but struggled for support, with Richa Ghosh’s 24 the second-highest contribution as England chipped away with wickets throughout the middle overs to stall their scoring.

Charlie Dean was the pick with 3-23, including Verma, Sophie Ecclestone took 2-28 and Linsey Smith picked up 1-26.

India’s opening partnership between Smriti Mandhana and Verma has been a thorn in England’s side throughout the series, with three of their five stands bringing fifty or more runs.

With the series gone, England coach Charlotte Edwards made three changes including a rest for quicks Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer, presenting opportunities for left-armer Smith and seamer Em Arlott after missing the previous two matches.

Both marked their returns immediately with Arlott claiming the huge wicket of Mandhana, caught at point for eight in the second over, and Smith bowled Rodrigues for one in the third.

But Verma was ruthless – anything full was pumped down the ground, and her placement was sublime, frequently picking gaps through the leg side when anything was fractionally short.

The opener added 66 for the third wicket with skipper Harmanpreet Kaur before the spinners efficiently put the brakes on the innings in the middle overs.

Harmanpreet was bowled by Dean for 15, Harleen Deol was lbw to Ecclestone for four before Dean struck the hammer blow with Verma sensationally caught at long-on by a diving Maia Bouchier in her first appearance of the series.

At 116-5, India were on the ropes but it is testament to their much-improved strength in depth that they recovered to post a respectable total – despite the eventual result – with 24 from wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh and a run-a-ball 14 from Yadav.

From the moment Amanda Anisimova stepped out on to Centre Court, you could see the tension etched across her face.

The 23-year-old American had never played in a Grand Slam final before and, as the 6-0 6-0 defeat by Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon final showed, the occasion overwhelmed her.

From the start of a match which lasted 57 minutes, Anisimova looked tight and made a stream of unforced errors as she fell to the heaviest defeat in a women’s final at the All England Club in more than a century.

“From my side, I think I was a bit frozen there with my nerves,” said Anisimova, who will rise to a career high of seventh in the world rankings after a run that included beating world number one Aryna Sabalenka.

“There’s a lot of room for improvement. If anything, I think it’s more experience for me on how to handle nerves.

Anisimova left the court briefly at the end of the match before returning for the prize-giving ceremony, where she was consoled by Catherine, Princess of Wales.

Anisimova did not want to disclose the full nature of their conversation, but said the “kind words” offered by the royal helped pick her up.

“It was such an honour to meet her,” Anisimova added.

“She definitely had a few things to say that were making me emotional again. She told me to keep my head high.

Anisimova, who also reached the Queen’s final last month, said fatigue had played a part in her performance.

She did not practise on Friday and said she felt she “had to take a break after every single rally” during her warm-up on Saturday.

“I feel like maybe the last few weeks have got to me in a way and I wasn’t able to perform to my full potential,” she told BBC Sport.

Getting over a demoralising defeat can take time for some players.

Germany’s Alexander Zverev talked about “feeling lost” after suffering a third successive Grand Slam final defeat.

But others – like Jannik Sinner, who reached the Wimbledon men’s final 35 days after losing a classic French Open final – have been able to quickly bounce back.

Anisimova, who took a break from the sport two years ago to protect her mental health, might look to what she learned during a stint studying business with psychology at university in California.

She hopes a quote by American author Marianne Williamson – about how pain can “burn you up and destroy you or burn you up and redeem you” – will help the process.

And she will also take inspiration from the quote from Rudyard Kipling’s poem If – ‘If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two impostors just the same’ – that is above the entrance to Centre Court.

“I think it’s really helpful that that quote is up there and it’s definitely going to stay on my mind the next few days,” she told BBC Sport.

Former world number one Tracy Austin said she hoped Anisimova would recover well because of the work she has done on her mentality.

“Having her people around – her mum, sister and nephew are in town – will help,” Austin told BBC Sport.

“She might be able to quickly realise that it is her first major final against a former world number one who was 5-0 in major finals.

“This was a lot for Amanda to take on. Wimbledon adds another 25-30% of pressure because it is Wimbledon.”

Anisimova said she had never lost a match 6-0 6-0.

“For it to be in my first Grand Slam final was definitely very hard to digest, but I’ve been in difficult situations before in my career, and I feel like I’ve learned so much from those moments,” she told BBC Sport.

Anisimova showed nerves in some of her previous matches – including her semi-final win over top seed Sabalenka – but was able to overcome them.

While Anisimova said she felt nerves before the showpiece match, she added they were not “out of this world”.

But the pressure of playing in a Wimbledon final took its toll.

“She’s playing in front of 15,000 people and you feel such a pressure to perform,” said British former player Naomi Broady.

“People have spent so much money on their tickets and they want to see a great match and you are desperate to do so, not just for them but for yourself, your team, your family.