England Women beat India in a rain-affected first T20I by 18 runs on DLS method thanks to Nat Sciver’s all-round display at Northampton on Friday.
Nat Sciver was the star for England, smashing a glorious 55 off 27 and picking up a vital wicket of Smriti Mandhana. Amy Jones played a brilliant support act with her 27-ball-43 in England’s innings to take the hosts to a mountain of a score.
As it happened, India Women won the toss and decided to field first. England’s Tammy Beaumont (18 off 22) and Danielle Wyatt (31 off 28) struggled to get going but somehow managed to keep the scoreboard ticking. The openers put on a 56-run partnership in 7.2 overs. Some tight bowling and brilliant fielding from India saw the hosts reduced to 85/3 in 11.2 overs.
Coming in at number 3, Nat Sciver got out of the blocks quickly, scoring 17 off her first six deliveries. She kept attacking the Indian bowlers at every opportunity and smashed eight fours and a six in her spectacular knock. Joining her was Amy Jones, who largely went unnoticed at the other end but played a little gem, blasting four fours and two sixes in her 43-run innings.
Sciver and Jones put on 78 runs off 42 balls for the fourth wicket. Some spectacular fielding display from Indian players induced a mini-collapse from England at the back end as they finished with 177/7 on the board. Shikha Pandey was the pick of the bowlers for India, picking 3 for 22 in her four overs.
Chasing a huge total with rain predicted in the second half of the innings, India needed to be proactive. But as it turned out, they got off to an awful start as Katherine Brunt rattled Shafali Verma’s stumps on the second ball of the innings. Harleen Deol, who earlier grabbed arguably the greatest catch in women’s cricket, struggled to get going in her 24-ball-17 knock.
Smriti Mandhana found her gears after a scratchy start, smashing six boundaries. She was India’s biggest hope of staying ahead of the required DLS score, but her knock off 29 off 17 ended as she was caught in a perfectly set trap by Sciver. The captain, Harmanpreet Kaur’s poor form continued as Sarah Glenn dismissed her on 1(2). Soon the rain started bucketing down, and the play had to be stopped.
With no further play, England were announced as the winners on the virtue of being ahead by 18 runs on the DLS equation. Sciver was awarded as the ‘Player of the Match’ for her terrific outing.
The second match of the T20I series will take place at the County Ground in Hove. India will need to win both the remaining matches to level the scoreline in the multi-format series.
Brief Scores:
England Women 177/7 in 20 overs (Nat Sciver 55, Amy Jones 43, Shikha Pandey 3/22)
India Women 54/3 in 8.4 overs (Smriti Mandhana 29, Harleen Deol 17, Sarah Glenn 1/6 )
England Women won by 18 runs (DLS method)
