England Women v India Women – India Women tour of England (1st ODI) – Match Update – http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 Women secure 5-wicket win
Aided by skipper Mithali Raj’s valiant knock, as well as superb bowling performances by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Archana-Das-c45330 and Nagarajan Niranjana, the India women claimed a narrow 5-wicket victory with 3 balls remaining over the England Women in the first ODI of a 5-match series,
played at Lord’s in London on July 1.
Chasing 230, the visitors’ innings boasted three half-centuries which enabled them to easily complete a successful chase. Their innings were opened by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Poonam-Ganesh-Raut-c82377 (60) and Mona Meshram (9), who succeeded in putting up an opening stand of 21 runs, after which
Meshram was run out in the 8th over.
Raj was next up to bat, and her unbeaten 94 (which won her the Player of the Match award) proved to be the anchor of her team’s innings. She established a mammoth 106-run stand with Raut, and their partnership got their side up to 127 by the 33rd
over, before Raut’s dismissal at the hands of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danielle-Hazell-c52362.
Hazell remained http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013’s top wicket-taker, finishing with figures of 2 for 34. However, there was little England’s bowling attack could do to dent the opposing batting order. No sooner had Raut been dismissed that Harmanpreet Kaur (50) stepped up to take
her place, and set up an 89-run partnership with Raj.
She was sent back to the pavilion by Hazell in the 48th over, followed by Veda Krishnamurthy’s (6) departure in the very next over, courtesy http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Danielle-Nicole-Wyatt-c52365.
Wicketkeeper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sulakshana-Naik-c91743 was up next, but run out on duck after facing just two deliveries. Raj alone powered her team to 230 at the expense of 5 wickets, with 3 deliveries remaining.
In addition to the valiant batting performances, equal credit went to the Indian bowlers, who succeeded in restricting their opponents to an achievable target.
England won the toss and opted to bat, but got off to a shaky start as Niranjana succeeded in dismissing England skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sarah-Jane-Taylor-c88769 (38) set up a 62-run stand, which was broken up
in the 18th over, but http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Arran-Brindle-c45514 who followed, contributed a useful 58.
From there onwards, the England Women were unable to rack up any solid individual scores, and were sorely troubled by Das, who claimed 4 for 61, and Niranjana, who finished with figures of 3 for 28. The hosts eventually found themselves restricted to 229,
all out – a total which did not pose much of a problem for the tourists.
Having gained a 1-0 lead in the series, the India women will be hoping to repeat a similar performance in the 2nd match of the series (after having lost the T20s 0-2), on July 4 at the County Ground in Taunton.
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