Ecclestone, Jones help England level series with rain-affected win

England's spinners assured their side of a manageable target before Amy Jones took them across the line in a rain-hit second ODI at Lord's to level the series with India at 1-1.

After a four-hour rain delay reduced the match to 29 overs per side, England's three-pronged spin attack restricted India to 143 for 8, sharing six wickets between them as Sophie Ecclestone led the way with 3 for 27. Linsey Smith took two and Charlie Dean one.

Another heavy downpour in the evening sent players running for cover with England 102 for 1 after 18.4 overs chasing 144 and, after a delay of about 20 minutes, their target was reduced to 115 in 24 overs, giving them 5.2 overs in which to score 13 runs.

Kranti Goud bowled Nat Sciver-Brunt with the second ball after play resumed but Jones, unbeaten on 46, and Sophia Dunkley, with 9 not out, saw England home by eight wickets with 18 balls to spare.

Smriti Mandhana top-scored for India with a 51-ball 42 and Deepti Sharma was their next-best with an unbeaten 30 off 34 balls but no other batter passed 16, although it could have been worse had the hosts capitalised on five further chances which went begging in the field.

Tammy Beaumont started England's run-chase brightly, easing to 18 off eight balls after the first three overs.

If there was an air of tension surrounding the match as these sides returned to the scene of Deepti's run out of Dean backing up in 2022, the band was pulled tighter during an umpire review for obstructing the field against Beaumont in the fifth over.

Beaumont clipped a Deepti delivery towards midwicket then turned back as Jemimah Rodrigues fired the ball back to the striker's end. Beaumont's left foot was grounded inside her crease as she moved her right leg forward and the ball ricocheted off her pad as wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh threw her arms up in appeal but Beaumont was adjudged not out.

Beaumont couldn't relax, however, Deepti pulling out of her delivery stride in her next over. Beaumont, the non-striker, recovered her ground with relative ease.

England had been 37 without loss after a truncated six-over powerplay, compared to India's 25 for 1 at the corresponding point in their innings, but India got their first wicket in the 11th when Sneh Rana got one to keep low as it slid under Beaumont's attempted reverse and hit her in line. Beaumont reviewed but ball-tracking predicted it to hit leg stump.

Jones and Sciver-Brunt had put on an unbroken stand of 48 off 50 balls for the second wicket when the rain returned, eight balls shy of the 20 overs required to constitute a match.

Earlier, the sun was blazing as seamer Em Arlott celebrated removing Pratika Rawal with just her fourth delivery, a gem of a yorker on the base of off stump.

The hosts introduced spin in the ninth over with Dean conceding nine before Ecclestone struck with a return catch off the second ball of the 10th to remove Harleen Deol.

After seeing a couple of half-chances missed off her bowling, Ecclestone took matters into her own hands again in her second over, pushing a faster ball through Harmanpreet Kaur's attempt to cut and hitting the top of off stump.

Harmanpreet's dismissal for just 7 continued a lean tour for her, in which she has scored 89 runs all up from six innings across formats with a highest score of 26.

India's woes deepened through Dean's caught-and-bowled dismissal of Rodrigues to make it 69 for 4 for the tourists in the 15th over. It should have been five down two balls later but Dean spilled a more straightforward chance off Ghosh.

Ecclestone ensured the mistake wasn't too costly however when she trapped Ghosh lbw in the next over.

That brought Deepti to the crease and as she faced Dean, there was a murmur of reminiscence from the crowd. Dean beat the bat with her first two deliveries before Deepti got off strike with a cut through point.

Smith almost did herself a mischief when she dived after a firm drive through the covers off Mandhana and face-planted the turf at the edge of the square, but she bounced back to combine with Dean in Mandhana's downfall.

After watching Mandhana's perfectly placed sweep pierce deep backward square and deep midwicket to reach the boundary, Smith drew a top edge that sailed towards cover, where Dean took a tumbling catch, drop-kicking the ball away in celebration.

Smith claimed her second when pinned had Arundhati Reddy lbw and Arlott finished as she began, knocking back Rana's off stump.

The teams meet again in the final match of India's tour at Durham on Tuesday.