Despite a Player of the Match performance from captain Heather Knight, England fell to defeat in the opening game of the Commbank Tri-Series.
England took it deep, with India sealing the win in the final over of their reply – Harmanpreet Kaur taking her side past England’s 147/7 – and despite the defeat they’ll have been proud of the fight they displayed.
It was a difficult start with the bat for Knight’s team, reduced to 38/3 and then 59/4 at the half-way stage, Knight and Beaumont – in a new middle-order role – combined brilliantly to take their team to a total that was around par.
England thought they had the dangerous Smriti Mandhana in the second over of India’s innings, but wicketkeeper Amy Jones didn’t have full control of the ball before she had completed her roll and her subsequent grounding of the ball meant the original decision was rightly overturned.
Knight (3-0-20-1) was the pick of England’s bowlers but Sophie Ecclestone was characteristically economical.
Defeat leaves England bottom of the table but they’ll face Australia at the same venue tomorrow (3.10am, BT Sport) and have a chance to pick up their first win of the tournament.
Heather Knight: “It was a close game and there were lots of little things we can identify and look to improve.
“You want to win every game you play but sometimes a game like that can be really valuable for picking up things that you want to work on.
“Tammy batted really well and I was happy with how we took the game so deep, it’s something we’ve got a pretty good record of doing.
“It wasn’t to be, in the end, but hopefully it’s a performance that can stand us in good stead going forward.”
Courtesy of the ECB
An indecisive start by England’s openers cost them the match: both dismissed by the 13th ball mustering just 5 runs between them. Experienced pairing Nat Sciver (20) and captain Heather Knight (66) nudged England back into the game until Sciver was caught by Deepti Sharma. Deepti also dismissed Tammy Beaumont (37) and Katherine Brunt (2).
India replied at a faster run rate. Lauren Winfield took two catches and Katherine Brunt took two wickets. At the 100 ball benchmark (16.4 overs) India were 122/4 needing 26 runs off the final 18 balls. Harmanpreet Kaur (42*) and Deepti Sharma (12*) obliged with three balls to spare. Love to have been there!
PS: You can find Deepti’s photo with me on the UK Indian Women’s Cricket Website, courtesy of our good friend Kaza.