Three wickets for Charlie Dean and Danni Wyatt Hodge’s half-century in her 300th match for England set up a consolation victory for the hosts, who then held their nerve to pull off the highest sucessful run chase in Women’s T20Is on their home turf in another last-ball thriller against India, who won the series 3-2.

Wyatt-Hodge and Sophia Dunkley put on a 101-run opening stand, which allowed England to reel in a target of 168, set largely by Shafali Verma’s 75. Once they fell, however, England’s pursuit grew tougher and they needed six off the final over, which yielded two wickets for Arundathi Reddy, but Sophie Ecclestone held her cool to take England over the line.

Shafali wrapped up her comeback in T20Is with her best innings of the series at Edgbaston, a 41-ball knock which rescued India from 19 for 2 in the third over and helped them to a respectable total of 167 for 7 despite none of her team-mates reaching 25 and only three joining her in double figures.

England put on an improved performance in the field, an area that has had them under fire since the T20 World Cup, and managed to keep India’s batters under some pressure, thanks to a regular stream of wickets. Em Arlott and Linsey Smith struck early before Charlie Dean claimed 3 for 23 with an economy rate of 5.75 and Ecclestone took 2 for 28.

Arlott and Smith returned to the England attack for the first time since the second match in Bristol as the hosts rested seamers Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer ahead of the ODIs.

Smriti Mandhana, the leading run-scorer for the series, struck back-to-back fours off Arlott in the opening stanza, over mid-off and pulled in front of deep backward square leg, but her cut off the final ball of the over sailed into the hands of Smith at point.

Smith entered the fray in the third over and struck with her third delivery, a pinpoint-accurate ball which kept low as Jemimah Rodrigues stepped back to cut, missed and heard the stumps rattle.

After being dropped following India’s group-stage exit from the World Cup last October, Shafali was recalled for this series and had been making progress with scores of 20, 3, 47 and 31. She played a big part in lifting India to 47 for 2 at the end of the powerplay and shifted into another gear thereafter.

Issy Wong conceded 20 off her second over, the seventh of the match, which Shafali opened with a four and finished with a thunderous six down the ground. She then pulled wide of midwicket and struck through a desperately diving Wong on her follow-through.

Shafali dug out a full Ecclestone delivery and advanced, then retreated when she realised wicketkeeper Amy Jones was in a position to gather, an umpire review confirming the batter had recovered her ground before the bails were removed. She lofted Ecclestone’s next ball over extra cover to bring up her fifty off just 23 balls, drawing level with Mandhana as the second fastest Indian woman to the milestone behind Richa Ghosh’s 18 balls against West Indies last year.

Shafali brought up India’s 100 with an emphatic four back over Arlott’s head and it took a brilliant catch from Maia Bouchier to remove her – and dim the memory of Bouchier sitting on her haunches with her head bowed as one of the many culprits in England’s poor fielding display against West Indies that saw them exit the T20 World Cup before the knockouts. Shafali skied a Dean delivery towards cow corner and Bouchier ran round to her right, timing her dive to perfection to take the ball cleanly just inside the rope.

Dean had already bowled Harmanpreet Kaur for 15 and she picked up her third when she trapped Deepti Sharma lbw. Bouchier took another calm catch in the deep to remove Richa and give Ecclestone a second wicket after she had pinned Harleen Deol’s back leg directly in front, attempting to sweep. It was a welcome return for Bouchier, who was dropped after the Ashes in January and only recalled partway through India’s visit as injury cover for captain Nat Sciver-Brunt.

Wyatt-Hodge’s 66 at The Oval in England’s only other win of this series – also secured off the last ball – had broken a run drought going back to the Ashes in January.

Opening partner Dunkley smoked a six over long-on off Arundhati, followed immediately by four down the ground. Their partnership passed fifty at the start of the sixth over and at the end of the powerplay, they were 57 without loss. Wyatt-Hodge accessed all areas with a quartet of fours off Arundhati’s second over. That put her on the cusp of her half-century, which she brought up off 30 balls with a pull through the deep midwicket region for two.

Dunkley and Wyatt-Hodge fell to spin within eight balls of each other, Dunkley within one strike of her half-century when she was bowled by Radha Yadav and Wyatt-Hodge advancing to Deepti, sending a leading edge to Rodrigues at mid-on.

Charani put down a sitter at short third off Amy Jones at the end of the 18th over, bowled by Arundhati, who had been expensive, conceding 41 off three overs. England needed six off the final over and when Arundhati sensationally claimed two wickets in the first three balls, they needed five off three. She took the pace off to bowl Beaumont with her first delivery of the 20th and Radha took a screamer off Jones at deep midwicket.

Ecclestone and Paige Scholfield scampered three after Ecclestone sliced through backward point and a single to Scholfield meant they needed one off the last. With the pressure high, Ecclestone pushed to mid-on, where Mandhana pounced but her throw to the non-striker’s end missed and Ecclestone was home.

Brief scores:
England Women  168 for 5 in 20 overs (Danni Wyatt-Hodge 56, Sophia Dunkley 46, Maia Bouchier 16, Tammy Beaumont 30, Amy Jones 10; Deepti Sharma 2-31, Arundhati  Reddy 2-47, Radha Yadav 1-20)  beat  India Women  167 for 7 in 20 overs  (Shafali Verma 75, Harmanpreet Kaur 15, Richa Ghosh 24,Radha Yadav 14*; Em Arlott 1-45, Linsey Smith 1-26, Charlie Dean 3-23, Sophie Ecclestone 2-28) by five wickets

[Cricinfo]