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4th over: West Indies 18-3 (Campbelle 1, Taylor 0) That was the last ball of the over, a memorable one for Em Arlott in only her second game for England. She has figures of 2-0-7-2.
WICKET! West Indies 18-3 (James c Dunkley b Arlott 6)
Em Arlott has two and Sophia Dunkley has taken a blinder! James scuffed Arlott towards midwicket, where Dunkley threw up her left hand to take a brilliant catch. There has been lots of focus on England’s fielding after the Ashes defeat; catches like that will change the narrative very quickly.
WICKET! West Indies 16-2 (Matthews b Arlott 6)
A huge wicket for Em Arlott! Hayley Matthews wafts all around an excellent delivery that nips back to hit leg stump. Matthews had driven the previous ball majestically over extra-cover for four but Arlott kept pitching it up and got her reward.
3rd over: West Indies 12-1 (Matthews 2, James 6) The left-arm spinner Linsey Smith replaces Lauren Bell. She’s straight into her work, troubling James with her accuracy and drift, and again there’s only one run from the over.
2nd over: West Indies 11-1 (Matthews 1, James 6) Charlie Dean took the new ball on Wednesday; tonight it’s Em Arlott. She starts with an impressively tight line to Hayley Matthews, who gets off the mark by cuffing her fifth ball to deep point for a single. That’s the only run from a pretty good over.
1st over: West Indies 10-1 (Matthews 0, James 6) Zaida James slashes her second ball through backward point for four. An eventful first over: two boundaries, one wicket.
WICKET! West Indies 4-1 (Joseph ct and b Bell 4)
Short and sweet from Qiana Joseph. She pulled her second ball fiercely for four, then popped the third straight back to Lauren Bell. It was a good delivery that hit Joseph high on the bat, and Bell reacted smartly in her follow through to take the catch.
The players are ready to go. Lauren Bell has the ball, Qiana Joseph will take first strike.
Team news
England are unchanged. West Indies bring in Stafanie Taylor and Shemaine Campbelle for Realeanna Grimmond and Janillea Glasgow; that should lighten the batting load on Hayley Matthews.
England Wyatt-Hodge, Dunkley, Sciver-Brunt (c), Knight, Jones (wk), Capsey, Arlott, Wong, Dean, Smith, Bell.
West Indies Joseph, Matthews (c), James, Campbelle, Taylor, Gajnabi, Alleyne, Mangru (wk), Fraser, Fletcher, Ramharack.
England win the toss and bowl
Nat Sciver-Brunt wins another toss and sticks with the tactic that worked so well in Canterbury on Wednesday.
Preamble
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss Lotte’s first series win as England coach. Two days on from her first game in charge, Charlotte Edwards’ team will clinch the T20 series if they beat West Indies on a beautiful summer’s evening in Hove.
England were comfortable winners in Wednesday’s opening game despite the latest demonstration of Hayley Matthews’ genius. Her unbeaten 100 took West Indies to an adequate score of 146 for 7, but Sophia Dunkley (81*) and Heather Knight (43*) got the job done for England with eight wickets and 21 balls to spare.
Even a rare failure from the captain Nat Sciver-Brunt worked in England’s favour. She was out for a second-ball duck and didn’t bowl, yet they still had more than enough to beat a decent if understrength West Indies. They’ll hope to do the same tonight; if not, the first series decider of the Edwards era will take place at Chelmsford on Monday.
The match starts at 6.35pm.
