England pacer Lauren Bell admitted that the first day of the one-off Test against India Women at the D.Y Patil Stadium on Thursday was quite tough for her team and felt they have done well to remain in contention and hoped that they would come back on the second morning and prise out India’s remaining three wickets as early before taking the attack to them with the bat.
Bell, who claimed 2-64 and also pouched a catch, said it was challenging for them to go into the match after only a couple of days’ preparation and things were made tougher for them by the hot and humid conditions.
India rode on three-century partnerships between three left-right combinations to post 410/7 in 94 overs to set up the game nicely. It was a cat-and-mouse game between the teams throughout the day as England came strongly to peg India back every time the hosts looked like taking control with a good partnership.
“Yeah, they (India) definitely kept coming back. I think they batted really well today. And I guess that’s a Test match. Cricket is probably tough day-to-day, but I feel like we can come back again tomorrow. And I guess that’s the beauty of cricket,” Lauren Bell said in the post-day press conference on Thursday.
She said playing a Test match soon after the T20I series and after only two days of practice was hard.
“Yeah, it was hard. I think you can’t prepare for a Test match until you play it, for sure. You don’t know how it’s going to be, but there was definitely the second phase of the game that was tough. But yeah, we got through it together and we’ve got quite a close-knit team. So yeah, we got through it together,” the 22-year-old from Swindon, Wiltshire, said.
Bell admitted that the wicket offered some seam movement early on but flattened out in the second half of the day.
“I obviously am used to the ball swinging and it didn’t swing for me loads up front. But later on, it swung for me. And yeah, we got a bit of movement off the pitch and, yeah, it’s definitely got a little flatter, and it’s tough to bowl and you’ve just got to attack the stumps and keep them in play as much as possible,” the England pacer said.
Asked whether the team was a bit worried with senior bowler Sophie Ecclestone having an off-day in the field, Bell hoped the spinner will bounce back.
“Sophie’s human and she’s not going to be taking ten wickets every day. But yeah, she’s obviously come back from a big injury and it’s impressive that she’s out there. And I think she’ll bounce back. And yeah, um, I guess it puts pressure on us. It’s obviously tough as a fast bowler out there, but I think as a group we’ll come together and it’s not one person’s responsibility. We’re quite a close-knit bowling unit and we’ll try and get them together,” she added.
She said that they would like to get the three remaining wickets as early as possible and restrict India on Friday.
“I’m not sure what the plan will be tomorrow. I think we’ll try and take the three wickets as quickly as possible, and we’ll be pretty attacking when we come back tomorrow morning,” she said.
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