England vs India: Freya Kemp breathes life into World Cup preparations to secure win in Bristol

Freya Kemp has enlivened England’s T20 World Cup preparations as they leveled their series with a 26-run win against India in Bristol.

England, who fell behind in the first T20 on Thursday, were pedestrian with the bat until Kemp took 24 from the last over to make 39 from 13 balls.

This took England to 168-5; It was a total that had looked well beyond them just twice before, but India were still well placed at 70-1 in the ninth over of their chase.

But Kemp, who has just returned to bowling after more than a year of back injury restrictions, came to the fore again by catching the classy Smriti Mandhana at deep square leg for 32 minutes.

His wicket sparked an impressive fightback from England’s bowlers; They first stopped India’s runs with Charlie Dean and Sophie Ecclestone and then claimed a flurry of wickets.

After India removed Yastika Bhatia for 33 off 36 balls (the first instance of this tactic being used in women’s T20 among major nations), Kemp caught her replacement Jemimah Rodrigues with a slower ball.

Needing 39 in the last two overs, India fell to 142-9

Although some of the batting continued to cause concern and England also dropped two catches, the win was a significant boost for England heading into their World Cup opener at Edgbaston on 12 June.

Rather than face a dead rubber after another demoralizing defeat, they can now clinch the series at Taunton on Tuesday.