England Women were absolutely clinical in the first ODI against India Women. The latter could put up a mere 201/8 as England put up an all-round bowling performance. Meanwhile, half-centuries from Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver helped the hosts get over the line with ease.
England Women just brushed aside India Women in the first ODI in Bristol as the hosts recorded a commanding eight-wicket win to go 1-0 up in the three-match series. Be it with bat or ball, England Women were absolutely clinical and produced a solid all-round show.
After being put into bat, India Women got off to a brisk start. Debutant Shafali Verma raced away to 15 and struck three boundaries. However, Katherine Brunt had the better of the 17-year-old as the veteran pacer had Verma top-edging a bouncer to leave India 23/1 in the fifth over.
Once Verma was dismissed, the scoring rate came down to a trickle and India could add a mere four runs in last 31 balls of the powerplay and they also lost Smriti Mandhana. Punam Raut and skipper Mithali Raj just couldn’t force the pace. Raut found it tough to get going while Raj didn’t really go big either. The duo added 66 runs for the third wicket but it came off 15.4 overs.
Raut and Harmanpreet Kaur fell in the space of 12 balls as India slipped to 84/4 in the 28th over. Deepti Sharma walked in and scored 30 while Raj continued her conversative approach and tried to bat deep. Deepti tried to up the ante after the 40th over but her innings was cut short by Anya Shrubsole. At the other end, the Indian skipper did score a few boundaries and tried to push India’s score but even she fell in the 46th over and was out on 72. India could score just 23 runs in the last five overs as they huffed and puffed their way to 201/8 in their 50 overs.
In reply, England were dominant in their run-chase. They did lose Lauren Winfield-Hill relatively early as Jhulan Goswami produced the breakthrough. However, that didn’t affect England much. They surpassed India’s powerplay score of 27 in just the sixth over and scored 61 runs in the first 10 overs.
Heather Knight couldn’t convert her start as she was knocked over by Ekta Bisht. At 83/2, India had the opportunity to apply the squeeze and put pressure on the England middle-order. However, opener Tammy Beaumont alongside Nat Sciver didn’t let that happen. The duo put on a commanding unbeaten stand of 119-run for the third wicket.
India’s fielding didn’t help them either. Bisht dropped Sciver in the 20th over when the England all-rounder was on 12. Both Beaumont and Sciver smashed half-centuries and remained unbeaten on 87 and 74 respectively to take England home with 15.1 overs to spare.
Brief Scores
India Women 201/8 (Raj 72, Raut 32, Sophie Ecclestone 3/40, Anya Shrubsole 2/33) lost to England Women 202/2 (Beaumont 87*, Sciver 74*, Goswami 1/25) by 8 wickets.
