Match Report

England v India 4^th ODI

England Women crashed to their fourth successive defeat in their ICC Quadrangular series game against India today, losing by eight wickets.

After losing the toss they were put into bat first by Indian captain Mithali Raj. Caroline Atkins was ruled out of today’s game with a thigh strain, so seventeen-year-old Sarah Taylor opened the batting with Laura Newton .

England started slowly, finding it difficult against Indian’s opening bowlers and soon found themselves 15-1 after five overs when Taylor was clean-bowled by Jhulan Goswami for 14. Claire Taylor followed soon after for 9 and then England lost two successive wickets without putting a run on the board. Newton was the fourth batsman to fall, leaving England 37-4 after 15.3 overs.

The only ray of light for England came in the form of Lydia Greenway who took to the crease and looked to dominate the bowlers in an attempt to reverse England ’s fortunes. She played a variety of shots and hit an unbeaten 50 off 76 balls, including six fours and one six. She was supported well by Lynsey Askew who hit an aggressive 24 on her England debut before being caught by Amita Sharma off the bowling of Preeti Dimri, leaving England 102-8. The tail-end managed to put on an extra 41 runs, until Isa Guha was run out. England finished 143 all out off 45.5 overs.

Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers proving very economical, picking up four wickets and conceding just 16 runs off her ten overs, a performance that was worthy of the Player of the Match.

After the break India , without too much pressure and two wins already under their belt in this tournament, came out positively. Their openers, Jaya Sharma and Karuna Jain put on 126 before Sharma was caught and bowled by Newton for 66 in the 31^st over. Jain went on to make 51 and then captain Raj, alongside Thirush Kamini saw India home in the 39^th over, earning them a bonus point.

England remain at the bottom of the table and will look to play for some pride in their remaining two group games against Australia and New Zealand, before competing in the third-place play-off on March 5.