Sophie Ecclestone flattened on return as England are crushed

Welcome back to international cricket Sophie Ecclestone.

Smriti Mandhana had no interest in giving the ­spinner a warm welcome as she smashed Ecclestone’s first ball for six. Three balls later, she did the same again.

Her first over eventually ended up going for 19. It probably wasn’t just the bright sunshine at Trent Bridge that had Ecclestone breaking out in a sweat.

In the end, it was a chastening result for England, who were crushed by India in their opening T20 of a five-match series. India beat them by 97 runs for their heaviest T20 defeat after England were bowled out for 113 inside 15 overs.

The focus on Ecclestone has really been entirely of her own making. She was justifiably criticised for refusing to do an interview with BBC presenter and former team-mate Alex Hartley during the Ashes, after Hartley had questioned England’s fitness levels during the whitewash in Australia. Ecclestone’s behaviour seemed to typify an England squad who had become complacent.

The decision by new coach Charlotte Edwards to leave her out of her first squad for a white-ball series against the West Indies raised some eyebrows. Ostensibly, Ecclestone was rehabilitating an injury but she was still playing county cricket.

Ahead of this series, Edwards revealed that Ecclestone would be taking a break from cricket to ­“prioritise her wellbeing” but was still available for selection. And that is how we ended up seeing her hit for 43 off her three overs.

The word that is mentioned in the same breath as Edwards is “standards”. That has included minimum fitness ones, for the first time ever. But they looked close to non-existent as India calmly destroyed England’s bowlers one by one. Really only Lauren Bell could walk off with much dignity after India’s innings of 210 for five, taking three for 27 from her four overs.

It didn’t help that the fielders were doing their best to sabotage any opening England’s bowlers might find. It was Ecclestone who fumbled the opening ball to allow India to get off the mark straightaway, and that was a sign of things to come.

There was an opportunity to take the wicket of the imperious Mandhana in the second over but Alice Capsey appeared to lose sight of the ball only for it eventually to land at her and Ecclestone’s feet with the two looking at each other in bemusement.

Mandhana was eventually caught 55 balls and 99 runs later, after bringing up her first T20 international century.

By the time India’s innings came to an end, England required 211 to win, what would be the second highest successful run chase in women’s T20I history.

There was little tension around it happening as both openers departed in the first two overs, Sophia Dunkley following a stunning catch by wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh, before Danni Wyatt-Hodge went for her third consecutive T20 duck.

Not even a classy knock from captain Nat Sciver-Brunt of 66 from 42 balls could bring England much hope, as every one of the batters around her failed to hang on for more than a couple of overs. No one other than Sciver-Brunt scored more than 12.

India were always going to pose a far tougher task than the West Indies had done but even Edwards might be shocked by just how poor England were in comparison.

The quality of the side means that they will tend to dominate series against smaller nations and it is only when they face India and Australia that there is an opportunity to see how they measure up.

On this evidence, they have a long way to go. India looked better prepared in every department, whether it was being more alert in the field, less expensive with their bowling or more fluent with their batting.

England host the T20 World Cup next summer and with that comes an opportunity to supercharge interest in the women’s game. It is not necessarily fair that sportswomen have that additional burden placed on them, but it is a reality.

On the evidence of this performance, England will need some kind of magic if they are to make the most of a home tournament the way they did in 2017.

Photograph by Philip Brown/Getty Images