The first one-day match between the Indian women’s cricket team and the England women’s cricket team took place in Bristol on Sunday. In the first ODI, England lost to India by 8 wickets. Opener Tammy Beaumont and all-rounder Natalie Skiver contributed to England’s win. The century partnership between the two took England 1-0 in a three-match series in the first women’s one-day international on Sunday. India defeated India by eight wickets with 91 balls.
India had to shoulder the burden of slow and loose batting. Batting first after losing the toss, India captain Mithali Raj scored 72 off 108 balls but could reach 201 for eight in the allotted 50 overs. England did not have much of a target and they unilateralized the match by scoring 202 for two in 34.5 overs. Beaumont (87 off 87 balls) and Skiver (74 off 74 balls) were England’s win-win heroes. The pair shared 119 runs for the third wicket. Beaumont hit 12 boundaries and one six while Skiver struck 10 boundaries and one six. Beaumont scored his fourth consecutive and 13th overall, while Skiver scored his 15th half-century.
The bowlers of England did not allow the Indians to play freely by bowling tight at first, but then their batsmen scored easily. Lauren Winfield Hill (16) caught wicketkeeper Tania Bhatia in the fifth over when Jalan Goswami caught the ball but did not let the pressure on the Beaumont team. Beaumont scored 59 runs for the second wicket with skipper Heather Knight (18) making 41. Senior Ekta Bisht broke the partnership by bowling a knight. Skiver, who replaced Knight, did not play Beaumont’s ally and scored faster than his teammates. He hit the first six of his match with Harmanpreet Kaur. Beaumont then equalized with a six at Harmanpreet.
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Earlier, India’s innings revolved around Mithali, who hit seven boundaries in his innings. Poonam Raut (32 off 61 balls), 56 from 94 balls and Deepthi Sharma (30 from 46 balls) added 65 for the third wicket. Left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone took three wickets for 40 runs, including a valuable wicket from Harmanpreet and Mithali for England. Fast bowlers Catherine Brunt and Anya Shrubsole took two wickets each. Shafali Verma (15 off 14 balls) and Smriti Mandana (10 off 25 balls), who played their first ODI match, could not get the expected start.
Shefali, who made the youngest debut of all three forms of cricket, began playing his shots from scratch. He hit two consecutive boundaries on Katherine but the fast bowler tested him with short pitch deliveries. Such a ball gave Shefali an easy catch. Mandana was bowled over in an attempt to cut the Shrubsole delivery late. Mithali initially batted very slowly and in the meantime Poonam too could not show pace. India have reached 50 in 16 overs. Following this, pressure on the team increased as both Poonam and Harmanpreet (one) returned to the pavilion for a run. However, Mithali retained the wicket and turned the strike with Deepti.
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India’s score was 134 for four after 40 overs. After this the duo showed their intentions but Deepti dismissed LBW by Shrubsole. Earlier in the same over, Mithali completed fifty by hitting a boundary in midwicket. Mithali did not remain in the crease until the end, which affected India’s score. He struck two consecutive boundaries in his next over Shrubsole but Ecclestone’s arm was unable to bowl properly and bowled. After that India were able to score only 21 runs in their last 27 balls. In the lower order, only Pooja Vastrakar (15) can contribute anything. The second ODI between the two teams will be played on June 30 in Taunton.
