Sciver in a league of her own, Deol's catch for the ages and Wyatt's return... ENGLAND V INDIA TALKING POINTS

NICK FRIEND looks back on the key moments from England's victory over India in the first T20I at Northampton

In the form of her life

Blimey, Nat Sciver is in some delicious nick. If that wasn’t evident from her first ball, when she rocked back and nailed a short ball from Radha Yadav between two off-side boundary-riders, then it was even clearer when she rocked back and hammered Poonam Yadav between long-on and deep midwicket for four more.

Her crowning glory came shortly afterwards, running down at Radha and chipping her for the most nonchalant six imaginable over extra cover.

When Amy Jones joined her in the 12th over, England changed gears: their partnership was as brutal as it was watchable, combining to add 78 in exactly seven overs. Jones, for her part, is among the most graceful batters on the circuit.

But this was all about Sciver, in truth. And further vindication for Lisa Keightley, who made it one of her first moves as England head coach to push her up to No.3 in this T20I side, convinced that the allrounder’s power game was the key to unlocking the team’s full potential.

The result? Only Heather Knight – the other player to benefit from the middle-order shift – scored more T20I runs, averaged more, faced more balls, hit more fours and whacked more sixes for England in 2020.

Sciver gives England a genuine fear factor; few in the women’s game hit the ball quite so hard or effortlessly, nor with such swagger. Just ask Arundhati Reddy, India’s 23-year-old seamer, who almost lost her face twice in the space of three balls as she drilled mercilessly back past her in the 16th over.

Those two blows – both of which beat long-off for sheer speed off the bat – were sandwiched in between a perfect punch through the off-side for another boundary.

A better fifty in this format you are unlikely to see. That it came to its conclusion when it did – with 10 balls still remaining – might just have saved India an even more daunting chase.

^{Danni Wyatt was back in England colours for the first time this summer}

Wyatt’s return

For the first time this summer, Danni Wyatt was back in an England shirt. She was left out, as expected, for the one-off Test and, more surprisingly, for the subsequent ODI series. Lauren Winfield-Hill was the beneficiary, reviving an opening partnership with Tammy Beaumont that has been so fruitful in the past.

Winfield-Hill looked in fine touch for the most part, carrying on the form that had seen her begin the domestic campaign with a hundred for Northern Diamonds. But her inability to convert promising starts into match-defining contributions perhaps made the decision to recall Wyatt for her favourite format more straightforward than it might otherwise have been.

One of the reasons for Winfield-Hill’s return at the top of the order had been England’s struggle through 2020 in the initial powerplay overs, with wickets regularly falling early.

But Wyatt, on the back of scant returns on the international stage through the last 12 months, looked back to something approaching her most fluent: England’s opening pair mustered 48 runs through the first six overs, before she fell to Radha Yadav’s second ball, edging an attempted reverse sweep behind and extending her run without a half century in T20Is to 17 games, all the way back to the pre-Covid days of 2019.

There were enough signs, though, to suggest that the Southern Vipers batter – with domestic form behind her – might just have found her groove once again.

Harleen Deol!!! 🤯#ENGvINDpic.twitter.com/a1kQzp4mxf

— The Cricketer (@TheCricketerMag) July 9, 2021

Harleen Deol, take a bow

For all the world, it was six. And then it wasn’t. Harleen Deol, in just her 10th T20I, with an absolute stunner for the ages. A genuine worldie. Not just the kind of catch that makes it onto social media and disappears from view shortly afterwards, but a piece to do the viral rounds well into the future.

She leapt twice: first, to catch Amy Jones as the ball threatened to drift over long-off; second – as she struggled to remain balanced with the rope at her mercy – to hurl herself back into play, taking a catch so astounding that Wyatt on England’s bench, situated right in front of the action, stood up and applauded.

Deol celebrated too, well aware of quite what she had just pulled off. But she was also nonplussed, as if none of us should have been surprised, as if this was all part of a plan, as if this is increasingly run of the mill for Team India and, more widely, for the women’s game, where fielding standards are on a steeply upward curve.

Even before that piece of outrageousness, Radha Yadav – another fresh face brought in for her first match of the tour – had already saved close to 15 runs at backward point, throwing herself to either side as Wyatt looked to glide cut shots in whichever way she could, like a goalkeeper up against a penalty taker. On most occasions, Radha won.

Since the middle of the ODI series, when Harmanpreet Kaur temporarily took over as captain at Taunton from Mithali Raj, who was off the field with a pain in her neck, India’s energy has gone up a level. Harmanpreet herself took a fine catch to see off Sciver; and when Deol rose to complete the implausible, she was mobbed by a group of teammates clearly committed to growing as a team through their work in the field.

^{Harleen Deol made an unbeaten 17 for India before rain ended proceedings; earlier, she had taken an outstanding boundary catch to dismiss Amy Jones}

Brunt v Verma

One of the battles of the international summer so far: veteran vs novice. As this multiformat series has progressed, Katherine Brunt has done as she has done for so much of her career. Shafali Verma came out on top in the Test, treating the experienced seamer with a disdain rarely seen over the last two decades.

But since then, England’s linchpin has responded in typically feisty fashion: she cleaned her up here in Northampton without scoring, having had her caught in the first ODI at Bristol.

Gradually, Brunt has worked Verma over. The onus has bounced between the pair through the last month; now, it’s back on the youngster.