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Key events
There’s a lot of talk on Sky about what’s to come. Wondering what’s next? World Cup in Bangladesh, so much of England’s strategy will focus on a game plan that will work on the road. This means that players who target the stumps and batsmen target heavily in the power play.
No drama for Pakistan, says Nida Dar: the visitors would have bowled first anyway.
Three changes for Pakistan. Alia solidifies the middle order with more grunt added with her powerful hitting. The spin of Sadia and Nashra will offer something different.
Pakistan: S Ameen, Gull Feroza, Sadaf, Muneeba, Dar (c), Aliya, Fatima, Diana, Waheedam Nashra, Sadia.
England win the toss
A coin toss goes Knight’s way, and she’s willing to put up a score. “It’s domestic,” she says with a shrug.
Brunt, as expected, returned in place of Freya Kemp. Brunt will not play as an all-rounder as she is not good enough to bowl.
England: Bauchier, Wyatt, Capsey, Siver-Brunt, Knight (c), Jones, Gibson, Dean, Ecclestone, Glenn, Bell.
Confirmed: Nat Sciver Brunt heats up.
England’s batsmen will be looking for improvement tonight. A quick glance at the ICC rankings shows that there is an imbalance in the side.
Sophie Ecclestone tops the list with Sarah Glenn up two places to fourth, Charlie Dean fifth and Lauren Bell climbing four places to seventh.
However, no shot is in the top 10, with Nat Sciver-Brunt the highest ranked at 14th.
Rankings don’t mean much, but they do at least mean a little, and that’s certainly something to pay attention to.
I should have mentioned earlier that last week’s game was Amy Jones’ 100th for England. And she caught four times as well as digging her team out of a hole with the bat.
If you want to show her some love, or love for someone, or indifference, or criticism, or want to share something with the group, or just want to say hi, email me at daniel.gallan.casual@guardian.co.uk.
Preamble
Daniel Galan
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of this second T20 International. Last Saturday (which seems so long ago) Heather Knight and Amy Jones rescued the cause from 11-4 to take England to 163-6. Then Lauren Bell (three for) and Sarah Glenn (four for) wrapped up a comfortable one 53 win in Birmingham.
It was England’s 15th T20 win over Pakistan from 16 matches and they could have – for my money – the best player in the world back in the mix tonight.
Nat Sciver-Brunt, Wisden’s latest female cricketer of the year, was unavailable last week as she had her eggs frozen with a view to one day having children.
It would also be a surprise to see too many changes, both in personnel and approach. Bell told Cricinfo this week that England will look to up the ante in terms of their attacking mindset and promised to “attack the stumps” by default.
This is T20 and anything can happen. And the collapse of England’s top order proves them wrong. But I see nothing but a smooth ride for the hosts. Either way, it should be good fun.
Toss and upcoming teams, first ball at 18:30 BST.
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