England bat, both teams unchanged

Toss England women chose to bat v India women
Live scorecard and ball-by-ball details

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Can India topple England at Lord’s?

England women chose to bat in their fifth World Cup final and second title match at Lord’s. Both captains expected the pitch to favour run-making, but for the seamers to get some early assistance on an overcast morning. The pitch appeared to have an even covering of grass, with a few dry patches in the wide good-length areas.

Both teams were unchanged. The only injury worry on either side concerned Harmanpreet Kaur, who went off the field during India’s semi-final with shoulder trouble, but she was deemed fit to slot into the line-up.

England entered the final after squeaking home by two wickets against South Africa, while India beat Australia by 36 runs.

England are yet to lose a match while batting first in this World Cup. But their only loss, which came while chasing 282, came against India. India have chased twice so far, beating West Indies by seven wickets and losing to South Africa by 115 runs.

England have won two of their four finals, as well as the 1973 World Cup which was a purely round-robin competition. India are making their second appearance in a World Cup final. They lost their previous final, against Australia in Centurion, by 98 runs.

England: 1 Laura Winfield, 2 Tammy Beaumont, 3 Sarah Taylor (wk), 4 Heather Knight (capt), 5 Natalie Sciver, 6 Fran Wilson, 7 Katherine Brunt, 8 Jenny Gunn, 9 Laura Marsh, 10 Anya Shrubsole, 11 Alex Hartley.

India: 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Punam Raut, 3 Mithali Raj (capt), 4 Harmanpreet Kaur, 5 Deepti Sharma, 6 Veda Krishnamurthy, 7 Sushma Verma (wk), 8 Jhulan Goswami, 9 Shikha Pandey, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad, 11 Poonam Yadav.

Karthik Krishnaswamy is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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