England v India – 2nd ODI, Taunton
England achieved their second 2-0 win in two days thanks to a commanding innings by Sophia Dunkley.
After her landmark knock in the test match Dunkley found herself as the lynchpin when the early batters we’ve come to depend on all perished. Let’s hope this encourages Lisa Keightley to be one grade less cautious in her future selections.
As expected she picked the same team for this second ODI. India on the other hand made three changes for a game they had to win.
Heather Knight allowed India to bat first on a fine wicket that offered pace and plenty of bounce. Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma got away to another good start by their very different methods, the one elegantly orthodox, the other rejecting the coaching manual in favour of power and a good eye. They had 50 on the board before a second bowling change proved significant. Kate Cross got Mandhana to cut too close to the body; she played on. Then Jemimah Rodrigues, preferred at No 3 to Punam Raut, was deceived by Cross and lofted to Katherine Brunt (5). This was the start of a magnificent display by Cross who, again bowling a mean line, completed a game-defining 5-fer. Her analysis: 10-0-34-5.
This was fortunate as the front-line seamers went wicketless, despite a cunning use of the short ball and changes of pace. Sophie Ecclestone was as reliable as ever, causing many misreadings at the other end of the track (3-33). Early on she stopped Verma’s onward rush (44), stumped by Amy Jones. Mithali Raj seemed to try harder to push the score along; she made 55 but took 92 balls over them. Once again the middle order couldn’t take command of the situation.
After the departure of Harmanpreet Kaur, caught and bowled by Cross (19), the largest partnership was the tenth (26). England’s outfielding was almost perfect. An unfortunate drop at mid-off by Lauren Winfield-Hill off her fellow tyke Brunt, didn’t prove too costly. Amy Jones kept finely and Knight’s field-setting offered an example that wasn’t followed in the second half of England’s innings.
India reached 221, for them still a disappointing total, given the state of the track and the strength of the English batting.
England’s tactics had been defensive, based on containment. Brunt swung the new ball past the bat several times, but a slip was not called in. The plan worked. Anya Shrubsole and Nat Sciver also bowled tight overs; Indian batters too often lost patience and attempted unwise shots. Three of Cross’ quintet came from skiers off wild swings. Only Sarah Glenn failed to make a positive impression with the ball. A pity.
A Different Reply from England
The second half of the drama took a very different route from the Bristol game. Raj had suffered a neck injury near the end of her innings. She didn’t take the field, so Kaur took her place as captain.
With Tammy Beaumont (bowled by a beauty from Jhulan Goswami) and Knight falling early, both for 10, a weight fell on Winfield-Hill’s shoulders. She responded well, reaching 42 before repeating that unwise stroke away from the body for a catch behind. Nat Sciver and Amy Jones’ bats made promising noises, but when both fell with 90 still needed and the lights starting to take effect, suddenly Sophia Dunkley at No 6 was the last full-time batter left. The game would turn on her performance.
She responded magnificently, working the ball all round the wicket, poking quick singles and adding commanding boundaries when needed.
Kaur had made a very positive impression as the on-field captain, handling her bowling changes and field-settings admirably. But as Dunkley and Brunt took root, so India’s control loosened. Too many easy singles were on offer, so boundaries were less urgently needed.
India had omitted Pooja Vastrakar, so had only their two pace bowlers, Goswami and Shikha Pandev to cause batters discomfort. Once more the surprise was how toothless the spinners proved. Poonam Yadav, brought into this game, bowled her slow leggers with cunning and took two wickets, but they cost 60 runs. With Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma she took a combined 3-147. Nobody else managed a sequence of wickets to put England beyond rescue.
Dunkley and Brunt went on to break the English record partnership for the 6th wicket, an unbroken 92.
Result: England won by 5 wickets
Player of the Match: Kate Cross
Points: England 6 India 2
Umpires: Nigel Llong and Russell Warren
Teams:
England
Winfield-Hill, Beaumont, Knight (captain), Sciver, Jones (w-k), Dunkley, Brunt, Glenn, Ecclestone, Shrubsole, Cross
India
Mandhana, Verma, Rodrigues, Raj (captain), Kaur, Sharma, Rana, Bhatia (w-k), Pandey, Goswami, Yadav
