England Women did well to restrict hosts India to a modest 202 in the first Women’s Championship ODI between the sides in Mumbai. But the Indian bowlers, particularly left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht, wreaked havoc to bowl the visitors out for 136.
England’s chase got off to a poor start with Amy Jones getting trapped in front by seamer Shikha Pandey for 1. It wasn’t long before the spin of Deepti Sharma was introduced and she produced the wicket of Tammy Beaumont for 18.
Pandey struck again, having Sarah Taylor trapped in front for 10. Heather Knight and Natalie Sciver put on a 73-run stand and seemed to have put England in a position where they would at least threaten India’s total if not overcome it, but Sciver’s untimely run out courtesy of Bisht opened the floodgates.
We defeat England Women by 66 runs in the 1st ODI
Three wickets for Ekta Bisht in the 40th over 👏👏
We take a 1-0 lead in the three match ODI series #ENGvIND pic.twitter.com/80GC4MxKqR
— BCCI Women (@BCCIWomen) February 22, 2019
England slipped from 111-3 to 136 all out, leaving Knight stranded on a gutsy 39 not out. None of the batters after Sciver went past seven. Danni Wyatt was removed for one by Sharma. Katherint Brunt was stumped off Bisht’s bowling and Georgia Elwiss was castled over by Jhulan Goswami for six.
The last three wickets fell in the space of four balls to Bisht as the spinner ruthlessly shut down any hopes of a fightback.
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Earlier, India had enjoyed a solid start to proceedings with Jemimah Rodrigues and Smriti Mandhana staging a 69-run opening partnership. While none of the batters were able to score a fifty, several of them got starts to help get the team past 200.
Excellent effort by our bowling unit!
We have been set a target of 203 to win#INDvENG scorecard: https://t.co/ikULlze8DY pic.twitter.com/7VuiSLwuWt
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) February 22, 2019
Rodrigues and Mithali Raj were the main contributors scoring in their forties. Mandhana and Tania Bhatia made 24 and 25 respectively, while Jhulan Goswami managed a valiant 30 lower down the order.
Sophie Ecclestone was the pick of the English bowlers, the left-arm spinner claiming 2-27. Sciver and Elwiss also took two apiece. England’s bowlers will be pleased with their performance, but the batters will have to reflect upon and address their mistakes as they prepare for the next match at the same venue on Monday, February 25.
