Dunkley, Wayne-Hodge and Filer help England keep series alive

England found a way to stay alive in the T20I series despite multiple stutters along the way, as they beat India by five runs in a thrilling last-ball finish in the third T20I at The Oval.

Having lost the first two matches, England looked like they had finally put together a complete batting performance when Sophia Dunkley and Danni Wyatt-Hodge added 137 runs for the first wicket but then came a dramatic collapse. The hosts lost nine wickets for just 34 runs in the space of less than five overs and had to settle for 171/9, which suddenly gave India a real chance to seal the series.

India's chase started with a lot of promise as Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma added 85 runs for the first wicket and were finding boundaries regularly, helped also by some poor fielding from England who dropped three sitters and looked completely flat for the first 10 overs of the innings.

Mandhana batted beautifully and raised her fifty in 38 balls while Shafali struck 7 fours and 2 sixes in her 25-ball 47 before being bowled by Sophie Ecclestone. Jemimah Rodrigues was then dismissed by Lauren Filer, who bowled with impressive pace throughout the night. It was her spell that really opened the door for England to come back into the contest.

Even after Rodrigues fell, India were still in control with Mandhana going strong and the required rate under control, but she eventually lost her touch after a few dot balls and mistimed a lofted shot to mid-on to give Filer her second wicket, which tilted the match back towards England. Harmanpreet Kaur and Richa Ghosh were still at the crease and with 20 runs needed off the last two overs, the game was still very much in India's hands.

Ghosh was dismissed by a brilliant diving catch in the deep by Charlie Dean and England's bowlers continued to mix up their pace smartly to keep India's batters from finding the boundary. In the final over, with 12 needed to win, Lauren Bell bowled four good balls and managed to bring it up to 6 required off one ball. She then went on to get Harmanpreet out off the final delivery when the India captain tried to hit over the top but found Sophie Ecclestone at mid-off.

Earlier in the match, England's batting had looked unstoppable when Dunkley and Wyatt-Hodge took them to 137 without loss in 15.2 overs, with both players reaching half-centuries and punishing India's bowlers for anything loose. Dunkley (75) looked in total control and Wyatt-Hodge also found form at the right time with a fluent 66. But the moment Deepti Sharma dismissed Dunkley with a return catch off a full toss, the innings unravelled as Arundhati Reddy picked three wickets in one over and England lost wickets in clusters, with Deepti and Shree Charani also chipping in to complete the comeback.

Brief Scores: England 171/9 in 20 overs (Dunkley 75, Wyatt-Hodge 66; Deepti 3-27, Arundhati 3-32) beat India 166/5 in 20 overs (Mandhana 56, Shafali 47; Filer 2-30) by five runs