England v India, one-off Test, Lord's
India 285 (74.5 overs): Mandhana 83; Ecclestone 3-68
England 21-1 (11 overs): Bouchier 17*; Gaud 1-8
England trail by 264 runs
Sophie Ecclestone became England's all-time leading wicket-taker across all formats as the hosts fought back late on day one against India of the first women's Test at Lord's.
Ecclstone claimed 3-68, to move above Katherine Sciver-Brunt with 338 wickets, as India were bowled out for 285 after Nat Sciver-Brunt surprisingly chose to bowl first in scorching conditions.
England were faced with a tricky 11 overs in the final hour and finished 21-1, having lost Tammy Beaumont for two in her final international appearance to leave the match evenly poised.
England recovered from a shaky opening session where their bowlers looked rusty and tired after a short turnaround from the T20 World Cup final at the same venue last Sunday.
Smriti Mandhana looked in sparkling touch for her 83 and Harmanpreet Kaur and Deepti Sharma made half-centuries, but India missed an opportunity to punish England in the heat as they lost their final seven wickets for 95 runs.
Lauren Filer removed Shafali Verma for a duck to become the first woman to take a Test wicket at Lord's before Lauren Bell bowled Yastika Bhatia with a beauty, but Mandhana capitalised on the loose bowling that followed with stands of 64 and 89 with Jemimah Rodrigues and Kaur respectively.
England improved significantly after lunch as Mandhana's scoring slowed and she was brilliantly caught by Amy Jones standing up to the stumps off Issy Wong, which triggered India's slump from 190-3.
Debutant Mady Villiers ended Harmanpreet's resistance on 58 before Ecclestone took the final three wickets, her first of Sayali Satghare taking her past Katherine Sciver-Brunt's tally of 335 international scalps.
Villiers finished with 2-79, with plenty of assistance for the spinners for a day one pitch for England's batters to be wary of, especially with another three days of high temperatures expected.
Spinners lead tired England's recovery
It was an emotional and historic start to the day which saw many past England cricketers gather on the Lord's outfield to ring the bell before the start of play, creating a buzz and anticipation for the occasion despite its rather curious timing – five days after England's T20 World Cup final defeat by Australia.
But England's bowlers struggled to match the intensity of the build-up, though it was of little surprise to see Bell, Filer and Wong straying both sides of the wicket.
A tired-looking Bell played every game of England's run to the World Cup final while Filer and Wong watched from the sidelines and were understandably rusty.
The attack also looked imbalanced with Sciver-Brunt's calf injury still restricting her from bowling and Charlie Dean rested, but all-rounder Villiers stepped up admirably alongside the experience of Ecclestone to rescue England from what could have been a brutal day of wilting in the London sun.
Filer squared up Shafali Verma and drew the outside edge and Bell cleaned up Yastika Bhatia for 12, only for Mandhana to race to a run-a-ball fifty.
While the inconsistency of Wong's opening spell was a difficult watch, Rodrigues gifted her a wicket by dragging a wide ball on to her stumps before lunch for 35 and she responded to add Mandhana to her tally shortly after the break, before Villiers' first Test wicket shifted the momentum in England's favour.
Her dismissal of Harmanpreet was the highlight of the innings, getting one to turn through the India skipper's defence and take middle stump, which left Deepti to shepherd India's tail which was exposed to the relentless Ecclestone.
Ecclestone goes top before Beaumont's disappointment
With the aforementioned difficulties facing Nat Sciver-Brunt in terms of managing England's attack combined with the heat, it felt inevitable that Ecclestone was going to plugged in from one end for much of the day.
That was not straightforward initially as the left-handed Mandhana targeted her with boundaries through the leg side, but Villiers' introduction - relatively late in the day in the 38th over - gave her valuable support.
She added the wicket of Sneh Rana lbw which gave England an opening as Deepti was forced to be a little more aggressive when batting with the lower order, and Ecclestone took her opportunity to pounce.
Satghare was pinned lbw and a crowd of almost 11,000 was on its feet for Ecclestone's moment, before she got on a roll with three wickets in six balls.
Deepti, who is two places ahead of Ecclestone on the all-format wicket-taker list with India seamer Jhulan Goswami between them, slogged to Heather Knight at mid-wicket before Kranti Gaud was bowled for one.
That was not the worst result for India, with a testing spell to bowl at England's openers, but there was no fairytale first-innings for Beaumont as she was trapped in front by Gaud's impressive swing with the new ball.
But Maia Bouchier withstood the pressure impressively with a patient 17 not out from 40 balls, and will resume alongside Knight on day two but they will undoubtedly face challenges from India's spin attack of Sharma, Sree Charani and Sneh Rana.
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