ICC Women’s T20 World Cup warm-up, Cardiff

England 171-6 (20 overs): Sciver-Brunt 57 (45); Patil 2-29

India 166 (19.5 overs): Ghosh 68 (36); Smith 3-42

England won by five runs

Scorecard

Nat Sciver-Brunt scored 57 as England concluded their T20 World Cup preparation by holding their nerve in a thrilling five-run win over India.

Chasing 172, India slumped to 87-5, and with an unlikely 38 required off the last two overs, Richa Ghosh whacked 21 off Issy Wong’s penultimate over and then a six and a four off Linsey Smith to leave six required off three balls.

But Smith won the battle to have Ghosh stumped for a sensational 68 from 36 balls and then removed Renuka Singh Thakur to secure a confidence-boosting win before the T20 World Cup opener against Sri Lanka on Friday.

Sciver-Brunt spent welcome time in the middle, and alongside Amy Jones’ fluent 64 at the top of the order and a late cameo of 30 from 12 balls from all-rounder Dani Gibson, England posted a competitive 171-6 in Cardiff.

The skipper had made just three in the previous warm-up against Australia, which England lost by five wickets, but has now alleviated some concerns about her lack of game time before the tournament.

The Australia match on Monday was Sciver-Brunt’s first international appearance this summer as she has been managing a calf injury.

After Danni Wyatt-Hodge was dismissed early again for just three, the newly promoted Jones and Sciver-Brunt added 70 for the second wicket, before India wrestled back some control in the middle overs with three quick wickets.

Jones was bowled by Shafali Verma before Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp also fell cheaply to spin, but the form of power-hitter Gibson at the death was another tick in the box for head coach Charlotte Edwards’ gameplan.

Her counter-attacking knock included four fours and a six with 19 coming from the final over to ensure England did not lose momentum after Sciver-Brunt fell with seven balls to go.

The hosts again rotated their bowlers, resting seamer Lauren Bell and giving more overs to Tilly Corteen-Coleman, Wong and Lauren Filer, while reserve keeper Capsey replaced Jones behind the stumps.

Available for over a year

How has the 2022 World Cup ended up in Qatar? Few would have guessed in 2010 that this tiny Gulf State would win the chance to stage football’s biggest competition. It had seemed an unlikely bidder, and didn’t have a single suitable stadium. Then there was the temperature, often around 40 degrees in the summer months: dangerous conditions for playing a football tournament. Fast forward to 2022 and seven new stadiums with huge new infrastructure have been built at vast expense. The opening game is just days away from being played, unusually, in the milder weather of November.

It’s a story that The Guardian’s David Conn has been following since the beginning. He is the author of The Fall of the House of Fifa and one of the world’s leading investigative journalists on corruption in football. Conn goes back to the beginning: how was the bid won in the first place? He traces the story from an infamous lunch at the Elysee Palace right up to the present day, investigating the human rights issues raised over the past dozen years, as well as probing at a question that is often left curiously unexamined: what is it that Qatar actually wants out of all this? And what does this tell us about how sport and power work in the modern age?

Produced by Ant Adeane from Tonic Productions for BBC Radio 4.

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Briton Chantelle Cameron will meet American Mikaela Mayer in a light-middleweight world title unification bout in Birmingham on 29 August.

Cameron, 35, beat Michaela Kotaskova to win the vacant WBO title in April and is aiming to add Mayer’s WBC and WBA belts to her collection.

Fellow Briton Caroline Dubois is also on the all-female Most Valuable Promotions card at BP Pulse, when she defends her WBC and WBO lightweight belts against American Amelia Moore.

Northampton fighter Cameron has 22 wins from 23 fights as a professional, including a victory over Ireland’s Katie Taylor in 2023.

“I’ve always said I want the biggest fights in women’s boxing, and there isn’t a bigger fight right now than me against Mikaela Mayer,” Cameron said.

“We’re both top-five pound-for-pound fighters, we’re both world champions, and we’re both coming to win.”

Mayer, 35, last fought in October when beating Mary Spencer and has a record of 22 wins in 24 bouts.

Dubois, 25, is yet to lose in 14 fights – winning 13 and drawing one – and has picked up five stoppage victories along the way.

The Londoner put on a classy performance to become a unified lightweight champion when beating fellow Briton Terri Harper on points in April.

“I am looking forward to representing the UK on this card and defending my unified title,” Dubois said.

“The goal is to fight for more belts at the end of the year so I need to focus and take care of business with a big win in Birmingham.”

Moore, 36, will be aiming to pull off a major upset in just her fifth fight as a professional.