Image source, Getty Images

India captain Harmanpreet Kaur: "We were also looking to bowl first but I think we are prepared for both.

"It's [beating England at the Commonwealth Games] history now. It's a fresh game and a fresh side and we are looking at doing the right things that we did in the Commonwealths and I think the team is looking very positive and I'm very happy with it."

On the pitch and the conditions: "I think it will help out bowlers initially. The conditions will remain the same for both innings and the batters can have some time on the wicket and then go for their shots."

England captain Amy Jones: "There's been a bit of the rain and we just want to have a look at the wicket early on. The main bit has been focusing on us. The team looks really different with an exciting young team. I'm just really excited to get out there.

"Lauren Bell comes in to make her debut. I think she's been brilliant all summer and obviously through the Hundred recently. I'm just really excited to see how she goes tonight. She's a brilliant bowler and I'm excited to see her go."

On captaining England: "It's [being captain] not something I saw coming. It's a very proud moment for me and my family as well. I'm looking forward to it."

Stand-in skipper Amy Jones flips the coin, her opposite number Harmanpreet Kaur calls incorrectly and Jones chooses to bowl on a pitch that's reportedly rather green.

Combined with the cloudy conditions it seems the obvious decision. England have brought in seamer Lauren Bell for her debut and she'll hope to enjoy a pitch that may well move about a bit.

Image source, Getty Images

Before the toss, a quick catch-up on where England find themselves going into this series.

Stand-in captain Nat Sciver withdrew from the England camp on Thursday to focus on her mental health, with Amy Jones replacing her.

Sciver was to step in for regular skipper Heather Knight, who sustained a hip injury earlier this summer that ruled her out of the Commonwealth Games and The Hundred.

Coach Lisa Keightley, who will lead England for the final time, has largely stuck with the remainder of her Commonwealth Games squad, adding only 21-year-old seamer Lauren Bell, uncapped in this format, to her roster to replace the rested Katherine Brunt (pictured receiving her cap from Sophia Dunkley).

It makes for an inexperienced group, with three players - Issy Wong, Freya Davies and Alice Capsey - only making their T20I debuts earlier this summer against South Africa.

It proved to be enough in that series, with England taking a 3-0 victory in the format, but this India team may prove to be made of sterner stuff.

Good evening and welcome to coverage of the first Twenty20 international between England and India at Chester-le-Street.

We've had a bit of rain over the course of the day in the north east, but the weather seems to have improved and we're expecting a toss at 19:00 and a start time of 19:30 BST, a delay of half an hour.

Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, tributes were paid at the start of the men's Test this morning with teams, staff and spectators to follow suit in this women's fixture.