Davidson-Richards stays grounded after coming good on belated England recall

Doing her own thing served Alice Davidson-Richards well in her comeback to the England Women's ODI squad, even if it didn't serve those back at HQ quite so well at the precise moment of her recall.

Davidson-Richards scored a half-century in a 106-run stand with Surrey team-mate Sophia Dunkley in the first of three ODIs against India on Wednesday night.

Their fifth-wicket partnership rescued England from 97 for 4, but it wasn't enough to win the game, India prevailing off the back of Deepti Sharma's unbeaten 62 to make Saturday's match at Lord's a must-win prospect for the hosts.

It was Davidson-Richards' second innings for England since 2023, having played twice against West Indies earlier this season, although she was only required to bat once and scored 7 not out in a series dominated by the home side's top-order.

She said she had been so focused on playing for Surrey that, when England Women's head coach Charlotte Edwards came calling, Davidson-Richards was in another world.

"I had six missed calls," Davidson-Richards said. "Lott was like, 'where you've been?' I said, 'I was in a theatre with no signal, pal.'

"They were waiting for the email for the squad to go out and I hadn't got a signal, so I hadn't found out yet. It was a bit of a surprise to come out and have all the missed calls and then speak on the phone with Lott, it was a pretty epic evening."

Davidson-Richards also said she hadn't let Edwards' edict that domestic performances would have greater influence on international selection into her mind too much, as she amassed 289 runs in the Metro Bank One Day Cup at an average of 48.16 and strike rate of 102.84, with a highest score of 100.

She was also instrumental in cementing Surrey's position at the top of the T20 Blast table with an unbeaten 28 and 3 for 11 against Warwickshire earlier this month.

She credits working with Surrey sports psychologist Louise Byrne and head coach Johann Myburgh with helping her through nearly two years on the fringes of England selection. Now, her recall has come at an opportune time for Davidson-Richards, with the World Cup in India just over two months away.

"The main thing for me has being trusting my game and trusting myself and the skills that I do really well," Davidson-Richards said. "I'm quite an up-and-down human at times, so trying to stay as level as possible and keep trusting myself as the games go on."

"For me it's always been a goal," she added of her desire to play for England. "It's never gone away, but the focus on just myself and trying to win games for, then it was South East Stars and now it's Surrey, became the main focus.

"When I started focusing on those sorts of things first, and the little things, then the stuff further along the line tends to come along."

Dunkley, who has batted up and down the order at international level in recent years, showed her own comfort at No. 5 with a top score of 83 in the opening ODI against India, where she enjoyed being reunited with Davidson-Richards.

"I've batted with her loads at Surrey," Dunkley said. "We've batted together in a lot of different partnerships, she's great to bat with, really calm and really good at ODI cricket so it's nice to bat with her.

"I really like batting in the middle. I've batted all different places and I think I've settled in that role, batting four for Surrey and now batting five. It suits my game quite well and hopefully I can impact the game more going forward there."

The immediate task will be keeping the series alive at Lord's, the scene of Deepti's run-out of Charlie Dean while backing up, which sealed a 3-0 sweep of the corresponding series in 2022.

Deepti and Dean have since played as team-mates at London Spirit in the Hundred, with Deepti telling ESPNcricinfo she had parked the dismissal as an "in-the-past" thing.

If, at the time, the incident had represented India asserting themselves at the home of cricket, then they have gone a step further on this tour. India's 3-2 victory in the T20I series was more comprehensive than the scoreline suggests, comprising three emphatic wins against two last-ball thrillers that went England's way, including the dead-rubber fifth match. They have since gone on to win a scrappier affair at Southampton that left both sides with clear areas for improvement.

For India, their fielding came under the microscope amid a rash of dropped catches, as did a top-order which failed to capitalise on starts and relied on a fifth-wicket stand worth 90 between Deepti and Jemimah Rodrigues to keep a modest target in sight.

England found themselves at least 20 runs short upon batting first and will be looking for more from the top order which crushed West Indies at the start of summer.