Heather Knight won the toss and chose to bat first, as the third and final ODI between England and Pakistan prepared to get underway at Chelmsford.
After two days of dismal weather for the men’s and women’s series alike, the prospects in Essex were significantly better than they had been in either Taunton or Cardiff earlier this week, where only 41 balls in the former match were possible across two days of action.
With light clouds and the prospect of scattered showers, England named a solitary change to the team that barely got underway on Sunday, with Lauren Bell returning to lead the attack in place of Lauren Filer.
Pakistan selected the same XI, as they bid for a victory that would secure a share of the series, after England’s “scrappy” 37-run win in the opening fixture in Derby last week.
Kate Cross, England’s veteran seamer, says she hasn’t given up hope of competing for a berth in England’s T20 World Cup squad in Bangladesh this winter, but admits her more realistic goal is the 50-over version in 2025, as she prepares to lead the line once more in the third ODI against Pakistan at Chelmsford.
Cross, 32, claimed two wickets in England’s 37-run victory in the series opener at Derby on Thursday, and with a total of 85 at 25.35 in 64 ODIs to date, is by a distance the most experienced seamer in England’s white-ball ranks.
In the T20I format, however, she has played just three matches in the last four years, and by her own admission, she missed her chance to impress when recalled for England’s shock series loss to Sri Lanka in September last year. The second of those three matches also took place at Chelmsford, where Cross returned figures of 0 for 33 in 2.2 overs as Chamari Athapaththu inspired her side to victory.
As such, while the squad’s main focus is on building towards Bangladesh in October, Cross acknowledges that this final ODI is a big chance for her to hone the skills that have kept her at the forefront of England’s 50-over plans for the past five years – and to help raise the team’s standards after an “untidy” display, studded with 31 wides, in last week’s win in the series opener.
“I think how we played in Derby probably wasn’t how we would like to play the game,” Cross said. “We were a little bit untidy with the ball, probably not at our best in the field. And we probably didn’t put as much pressure on the Pakistan bowling attack as we would like.
“We actually haven’t lost an ODI series under Jon Lewis [since November 2022] so it goes to show we’re doing a lot of really good things, but how do we keep that mindset positive all the time? We were probably disappointed with ourselves in Derby, that we could have been a little bit more ruthless in some of those moments.
“We know on our best day we can beat any team, we saw that in the Ashes last year when we were able to put Australia under pressure in real key moments. But what we sometimes forget is that we’re asking some really young, inexperienced players to be perfect. The group is trying to learn and improve whilst we play international cricket and that’s a really difficult place to be.
