1st over: England 6-1 (Bouchier 5, Capsey 0) Atapaththu had kept Wyatt quiet (dot, dot, one), then dropped a touch short to Maya Bouchier, who collected the first boundary of the day with a well-placed cut. But that over was all about the last ball, with the Sri Lankan captain getting shot of a dangerwoman.

WICKET! Wyatt b Atapaththu 1 (England 6-1)

The breakthrough! Atapaththu lures Wyatt into a big drive that connects with thin air as the ball turns gently through the gate.

The players take the field, flanked by flames. The Sri Lankans have a spring in their step, as if they feel this will be the day when they finally beat England in a T20.

Teams in full

England 1 Maia Bouchier, 2 Danni Wyatt, 3 Alice Capsey, 4 Freya Kemp, 5 Heather Knight (capt), 6 Amy Jones (wkt), 7 Danielle Gibson, 8 Sarah Glenn, 9 Charlie Dean, 10 Kate Cross, 11 Issy Wong.

Sri Lanka 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Atapaththu (capt), 3 Hasini Perera, 4 Nilakshi de Silva, 5 Harshitha Samarwickrama, 6 Kavisha Dilhari, 7 Anushka Sanjeewani (wkt), 8 Inoka Ranaweera, 9 Sugandika Kumari, 10 Udeshika Prabodhani, 11 Inoshi Fernando.

Teams in brief: Wong replaces Gaur

For England, Mahika Gaur is rested, as the crowd feared. Well, she did have to bowl two whole overs the other night … but maybe it’s more a case of mental tiredness, or just the urge to rotate the quicks. The good news is that Issy Wong gets a go with the new ball.

Sri Lanka make one change too, calling up a spinner, Inoshi Fernando, in place of a seamer, Kawya Kavindi.

Toss: SL choose to bowl

Chamari Atapaththu calls heads, it is, and she opts to chase. Heather Knight says she wanted to bat first anyway, so one coin has made two people happy.

Preamble

Afternoon everyone and welcome to the OBO. Another day, another T20 international. No sooner have England’s men dismantled New Zealand than England’s women get the chance to wrap up a series against Sri Lanka.

For Heather Knight and her youngish team, the omens are good: the Sri Lankans have never beaten England in a T20 game. In 12 meetings, the best they’ve managed is to escape twice with a no-result, which doesn’t look very likely today as Chelmsford is due to be dry with sunny spells. The weather was most inhospitable at Hove on Thursday, reducing the chase to just six overs and expecting the Sri Lankans to come out after the rain and make 45 off 17 balls.

For England, the game was a breeze. The players finally collected the same match fee as the men, £3500 apiece, and they earned it. The new-look top order slotted straight into place with every batter getting a start.

The new fast bowler, Mahika Gaur, brought her distinctive blend of pace, bounce, skill and know-how. At 17 she already has international experience with UAE and it showed as she resumed an over after the rain, got hit for six, retorted with a bouncer and then grabbed the big scalp by having Chamari Athapaththu caught behind. England may prefer to rest Gaur today, but the Chelmsford crowd would surely love to see her.

Play starts at 2.30pm BST, and I’ll be back with news of the toss soon after 2.