Highlight
On Sunday, England women beat India women by eight wickets in the first One-Day International (ODI).
England women scored a valuable 1-0 victory, taking a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three test series.
As a player of the match, Tammy Beaumont made 87 unbeaten runs.
In vain, Mithali Raj’s fighting half-century went as England women cruised to victory by eight wickets in the first ODI against India women on Sunday thanks to Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver’s unbeaten half-centuries.
Nat Sciver and Tammy Beaumont went on to put on yet another unbeaten fifty partnership for the third wicket to guide England Women to a narrow eight-wicket victory over India Women in the first one-day international of the three-match series on Sunday. The 73rd-ranked Mithali brought India Women back from the brink with a patient 72 that guided them to a less-than-impressive 201 for eight after being put in to bat. Following two early dismissals, Mithali kept India’s innings together. Deepti Sharma (30) and Punam Raut (32) tied together 56 runs in partnership to help India go past the 200-run mark.
However, thanks to opener Beaumont (87 not out off 87 balls) and Sciver’s (74 off 74) unbroken 119-run third-wicket partnership that came off just 19 overs, England Women completed their run-chase with 91 balls to spare.
As soon as England lost Lauren Windfield-Hill (16) early in their chase, they were back on track thanks to Beaumont’s (18) half-century partnership with skipper Heather Knight (18).
Knight was vulnerable to a lovely delivery from left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, which turned in flight enough to beat the English skipper’s bat and affect the structural integrity of the wicket.
Even though Bisht was hit for two sixes in the next over, Sciver did not let him settle down as she hit and pushed her way past the bowler for two sixes.
Beaumont went on an all-out attack, brought up her fifty in 48 balls by sweeping Deepti Sharma to the square-leg boundary, continuing her consistent and determined efforts. The Indians had a great opportunity to gain momentum, but Bisht dropped Sciver at short fine-leg in the 20th over after Harmanpreet Kaur opened with an over that was bowled by Harmanpreet Kaur.
On both fielding and bowling, the Indians were disorganized as Shikha Pandey, a bowler, bowled two consecutive no-balls in the 28th over, with the second of which being caught by England’s Sarah Taylor at mid-on.
Unfortunately, from that point on, the visitors were at the mercy of Beaumont and Sciver as the boundaries kept being found at will to win the match and they went on to reach 202 for eight in 34.5 overs.
The start of the match for the visiting team was disappointing as they were defeated cheaply by the openers. Claimed to be the next big thing in Indian women’s cricket, Shafali Verma, who is a sixteen-year-old teen sensation, was given just 14 balls in her first international ODI to score 15 runs, three of which were fours.
Shafali, who achieved the distinction of being the youngest Indian cricketer to appear in the One-Day International (ODI) and Test match formats at the same time on Sunday, perished chasing numerous big shots when she miscued a Katherine Brunt delivery to Anya Shrubsole at mid-on in the fifth over.
after Punam and Mithali revived the innings, Smriti Mandhana (10) followed.
After Punam and Mithali were dismissed early, they adopted a more cautious style of play but made no effort to avoid getting hit with any bad balls. After Punam and Kate Cross started to flourish in their partnership, Sophie Ecclestone handed a simple catch to Punam, who was walking away.
India vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur had a subpar day, going scoreless as he did not trouble the scoring bowlers. Ecclestone (3/40) helped Amy Jones to an early wicket.
Despite her previous experience, it was difficult for Mithali early on. Finding the boundary was a challenge for her, as she went 50 not out in 95 balls, adding a four off Shrubsole to her tally.
Deepti went on to make a further 65 runs alongside Mithali, who has also dismissed LBW, with the ball to Shrubsole.
Mithali changed gears after Deepti was let go, scoring three boundaries in an over, and lofting Shrubsole over the short boundaries to put together 15 runs off the 44th over.
With Mithali on the verge of cracking some heads, then Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone removed her from the attack during the 46th over, which sent India into a tailspin and left them all out for 180 for 6.
Shikha Pandey and Jhulan Goswami each went unbeaten to help India set a new benchmark of 200 runs in the allotted overs.
