Lunch India 29 for 1 (Verma 20*, Brunt 1-18) and 231 (Verma 96, Mandhana 78, Ecclestone 4-88, Knight 2-7) trail England 396 for 9 dec. (Knight 95, Dunkley 74*, Beaumont 66, Rana 4-131, Sharma 3-65) by 136 runs
England further dented India's hopes in their Test clash, removing opener Smriti Mandhana on the stroke of lunch on the third day as the visitors, following on, fell to 29 for 1 in their second innings, still 136 runs in arrears.
Katherine Brunt enticed Mandhana into a drive with a full delivery that found the edge to second slip, where Nat Sciver was waiting with safe hands. With Mandhana gone for 8 there was to be no reprise of her record opening partnership of 167 with Shafali Verma from the first innings.
Verma remained in devastating form, however, after her debut innings of 96 the previous day. By the break, the 17-year-old Verma had shown exquisite timing in facing 14 balls for her unbeaten 20, all of her runs scored in boundaries.
Earlier, Sophie Ecclestone picked up from where England had left off on the second evening, adding three more wickets to her tally on the third morning as India were bowled out for 231.
India resumed on 187 for 5 after a flurry of wickets in the final hour on Thursday brought undone the partnership worth 167 between Verma and Mandhana. Ecclestone, the left-arm spinner, struck with her first ball - the fifth of the day overall - when she had Harmanpreet Kaur out lbw. It took an astute England review to claim the wicket after Kaur was initially given not out by on-field umpire Sue Redfern, with replays showing the ball hitting leg stump.
Ecclestone then had Taniya Bhatia out lbw with the first ball of her next over, Bhatia burning a review in the hope of having a fairly cut-and-dried dismissal overturned. By then, India had lost seven wickets for 20 runs in 14.2 overs.
But it was perhaps her removal of Sneh Rana that would have brought Ecclestone the greatest satisfaction, such was the quality of the delivery, pitching outside off and turning sharply across to find the edge, Amy Jones taking a juggling catch behind the stumps. It was Ecclestone's fourth wicket and she ended the innings with 4 for 88 from 26 overs.
Katherine Brunt then struck at the very first opportunity with the new ball, bowling Pooja Vastrakar with a dream delivery, one that swung out a mile and clipped the top of off stump. And when Anya Shrubsole bowled Jhulan Goswami with an inswinger, the visitors were all out, still 16 runs short of avoiding the follow-on.
Verma's stellar 96 in the first innings, the highest score by an India woman on Test debut, combined with Mandhana's 78 set their side on course to overhaul England's imposing first-innings total of 396 for 9 declared.
On the second day, Verma had scored a stellar 96, the highest score by an India woman on Test debut, to set her side on course to overhaul England's imposing first-innings total of 396 for 9 declared in tandem with Mandhana, who scored 78. But once their partnership was broken within an hour of the close on the second day, Shikha Pandey, Punam Raut and Mithali Raj all fell cheaply, the first two to the part-time offspin of Heather Knight either side of Ecclestone's dismissal of Raj.
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo
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