Key events
10th over: Scotland 49-1 (S Bryce 27, K Bryce 8) Half-way there and England will certainly be the happier of the two sides. Dean fizzes down another over of spin in next to no time and gives up just three singles. Kathryn twice shimmied across her stumps to swipe a single into the leg side, but there’s not enough power and it’s not placed into a gap to find the boundary.
9th over: Scotland 46-1 (S Bryce 26, K Bryce 6) The Bryce sisters are together at the crease. New batter Katherine is off the mark with a lofted cover drive that is a thing of beauty. She picks up two singles elsewhere, with Sarah registering three of her own, so that Glenn over is worth nine.
WICKET! Horley c Ecclestone b Sciver-Brunt 13 (Scotland 38-1)
Simple as! Sciver-Brunt, bowling into the pitch, gets one to hold just a fraction. It means that Horley is through with her shot far too early and the attempted lofted drive down the ground spoons tamely to mid-off where Ecclestone pouches it. England are on the board.
8th over: Scotland 38-1 (S Bryce 24)
7th over: Scotland 34-0 (Horley 10, S Bryce 23) Another over whizzes by. Glenn into the attack and she’s through her work in a flash. her skiddy leg-breaks are straight and testing, but the Scots handle her well, collecting five comfortable singles.
6th over: Scotland 29-0 (Horley 7, S Bryce 21) Well Scotland aren’t exactly exploding over the horizon, but they’re unblemished after the powerplay. A direct hit from Dean’s throw at the non-striker’s end would have changed that. Instead Bryce’s dive saw her home for a quick single. Three more singles from Ecclestone’s over means it’s a handy start for the underdogs, but they’ll want to kick on now.
5th over: Scotland 25-0 (Horley 5, S Bryce 19) Sarah Bryce is in the groove now. She unfurled a gorgeous cover drive for four after charging to the pitch of a slower tossed-up ball from Dean. That was the shot of the game by a mile. From there it was all about manipulating the field; three singles and a couple for Bryce off her hips.
4th over: Scotland 16-0 (Horley 4, S Bryce 11) They’re motoring through their overs. Helps when you’ve got spin at both ends, which is what they have now with Sophie Ecclestone into the attack. As you’d expect from the world’s number one bowler in this format she’s on the money from the very first. Zippy through the air, she gives up two singles, one a scampered single to Dean at mid-off who was caught day dreaming a touch.
3rd over: Scotland 14-0 (Horley 3, S Bryce 10) Another over ends with a flashing blade, an outside edge and a boundary for Bryce. Charlie Dean’s first over is tidy – conceding two singles and a tight wide down leg – – until she dangles a teaser wide outside off stump. Bryce throws her hands at it and gets enough wood on it to see it fly down to deep third for four.
2nd over: Scotland 7-0 (Horley 2, S Bryce 5) Lauren Bell’s first over in the tournament is a little all over the place. She’s lucky not to concede a wide with her first ball down leg as it clipped a pad. Just two runs off the bat means it’s not a bad return, but she’ll want to find her radar and target the off-stump more in her next set.
1st over: Scotland 5-0 (Horley 1, Bryce 4) The final ball is edged for four, but it was a loose delivery from Sciver-Brunt that was wide outside off stump. Otherwise she was tidy, conceding just a single to Horley who steered one off her back foot behind point.
It’s Sciver-Brunt with the new ball.
Nasser has just shared an interesting stat. Scotland have not hit a six all tournament. England have managed just one themselves so far.
Anthems now.
Flower of Scotland up first, which is such a banger!
Dunkley gets an opportunity with Capsey sidelined with illness. Bell’s seam replaces Smith’s spin.
McColl comes into the picture with Chatterji missing out.
No Alice Capsey, you might have noticed. That’s not the only change for England but it is the only enforced switch.
Capsey has been struck low by an illness that has afflicted several English players. Could that impact their performance?
Teams
England: Maia Bouchier, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkley, Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight (c), Amy Jones (wk), Danielle Gibson, Sophie Ecclestone, Charlie Dean, Sarah Glenn, Lauren Bell.
Scotland: Saskia Horley, Sarah Bryce (wk), Kathryn Bryce (c), Alisa Lister, Megan McColl, Darcey Carter, Lorna Jack-Brown, Katherine Fraser, Rachel Slater, Abtaha Maqsood, Olivia Bell.
Scotland win the toss and bat first
“Let’s put a bit of pressure on them and enjoy our last game.”
So says the Scottish skipper Kathryn Bryce. Not exactly rooted in hard number crunching, but it’s as good a reason as any to kick off with the willow.
Heather Knight would have batted first as well. She cites the wear and tear on the pitch that’s already been used twice. Could be good for England to chase again.
Some Sunday morning reading:
Barney Ronay on England’s male maestros:
Simon Burnton on the team’s wow factor:
James Wallace on one the group’s less celebrated figures:
Australia all but cemented their place in the last four, but their victory might be filed under P for ‘Pyrrhic’.
Their skipper, Alyssa Healy, limped off as she was steering her team to a comfortably run chase against Pakistan.
Healy could return to full match sharpness but the same is sadly not true for bowler Tayla Vlaemink who dislocated her shoulder while fielding.
Preamble
Daniel Gallan
England have their target in sight. A win today would effectively see them qualify for the semi-finals. But that’s not enough. Arguably the more important objective is to top the group and therefore avoid Australia in the first knock-out game. A win today over Scotland would bring them closer to their goal.
They were excellent against South Africa five days ago, timing their run-chase to perfection. There were splutters against Bangladesh, particularly with the bat, but their impressive battery of spinners secured a comfortable victory.
Of all the teams still in the fight for a semi-final berth from Group B – along with South Africa and the West Indies – England have the lowest run-rate. A better show with the willow today.
Toss and teams to come.
Play to start at 11am BST.