Kate Cross took six wickets to cause an Ireland collapse in the opening ODI of the three-match series today (September 7), recording her best-ever international figures.
England picked three international debutants in their XI for the first match of the tour in Belfast, Paige Scholfield, Hannah Baker and Ryana MacDonald-Gay all earning their maiden caps. Mady Villiers and Hollie Armitage also made their ODI debuts. Cross is captaining the side in the absence of Heather Knight and most of the rest of England's T20 World Cup squad, who will head out to the UAE during the series.
Ireland got off to a shaky start when they lost Una Raymond-Hoey in the first over of the match, trapped lbw as Cross's first victim. Stand-in captain Gaby Lewis also fell in the powerplay to leave Ireland 21-2 and give Lauren Filer her only wicket of the innings. Amy Hunter and Orla Prendergast then built a stable 53-run partnership, before Hunter became Baker's first international wicket. Prendergast top-scored in the innings with 76, but her wicket precipitated an Ireland collapse which saw them lose their final seven wickets for 51 runs.
After Prendergast chipped an innocuous ball from Cross to cover inside the circle to bring Rebecca Stokell to the crease, MacDonald-Gay picked up her maiden wicket when she replaced Cross in the attack, bowling Stokell for four. Following a run out which got rid of Leah Paul, Cross mopped up the tail, taking four wickets for six runs in ten balls.
She got Arlene Kelly with a full ball that Kelly looked to heave over the infield, but only gave an easy catch to MacDonald-Gay at cover. Off the final ball of the same over, Cross bowled Jane Maguire between bat and pad, pinning back her leg stump. When she returned to bowl her next over, she took the last two wickets of the innings with consecutive deliveries, Bess Heath almost missing a stumping to get Alice Tector, before cleaning up Aimee Maguire first ball.
Cross finished the innings with figures of 6-30, the best by anyone for England in a Full Member women's ODI (Jo Chamberlain claimed 7-8 against Denmark in 1991). There also the second-best figures for an ODI captain of any women's side, with India's Mamatha Maben keeping the top spot with figures of 6-10 against Sri Lanka in 2004.
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