MacDonald-Gay, Kira Chathli star as England A level T20 series

In the second Twenty20 match between India A and England A at the County Ground in Northampton, captain Kira Chathli scored 53 runs off 26 balls to help England A win by five wickets. The result sees England A level the three-match series ahead of Thursday's decider at Chelmsford. Chasing 173 to win, Surrey's Chathli shared a confident second-wicket partnership of 61 with Essex's Grace Scrivens (39) as the pair posted 68 for 1 in the powerplay. Bess Heath of Durham then took over, scoring 40 runs in just 23 balls to send England A home. Earlier Vrinda Dinesh hit an aggressive 79 as India A posted a challenging 172 for 4. Vrinda shared rapid half-century partnerships with Purvaja Verlekar and captain Anushka Sharma. Ryana MacDonald-Gay of Surrey was the best bowler for England A. She took 2 for 10 runs with 19 dots, but England didn't help their cause with five dropped catches. India A got off to a fast start with Deeya Yadav scoring three boundaries in the first over. Vrinda, on the other hand, showed immediate intent by hitting consecutive boundaries over the covers before flat-batting down the ground. MacDonald-Gay though stemmed the tide with a wicket maiden, bowling Yadav with an inswinger. India A reached 43 for one at the end of their powerplay. However, some careless bowling resulted in 20 runs in the next over, and just as England A started to pull it back, three more catches were taken, two of which were extremely difficult. India A were now moving quickly, but once more MacDonald-Gay came through and bowled Verlekar with an inswinger. Anushka muscled over deep cover for six, while Vrinda continued her offensive play by pulling and sweeping over midwicket before hitting the next ball straight down the ground for six. Vrinda finally chipped Sophia Smale straight to deep cover before Chathli effected a run out in the final over. Scrivens and Ella McCaughan ran the ball past the cover fielders to get England A going, but McCaughan was bowled by Vaishnavi Sharma as she tried to sweep. Even though Chathli did come down the wicket to hit Vaishnavi Sharma back over her head, England A continued to prosper by playing low-risk cricket and playing well-timed sweeps, cuts, and drives with runs flowing freely. India A finally broke the stand when Scrivens edged Simran Dil Bahadur to cover point off an attempted drive, despite the abundance of boundaries. Chathli continued to sweep the spinners, including a six off Anushka to reach her 50. India A's return to seam paid off, with Shabnam Shakil bowling Chathli as she attempted to pull. Heath, on the other hand, kept the run rate at 10 per over by pulling seamers through midwicket and swotting down the ground and driving spinners through the covers. Minnu Mani trapped Jodi Grewcock lbw with England A needing 34 needed off 5.3 overs, but while Pavely skied a catch of Shakil, Heath reverse swept for consecutive fours and crunched through cover to see her team home.