Indian women versus England women one-off Test: Honours even at the end of day 1
The Indian spinners staged a good comeback at the end of the first day of a one-off Test match played at the County Ground, Bristol on
Wednesday.
England captain Heather Knight won the toss and decided to
bat first. It was a cautious start by Winfield Hill and Tammy Beaumont against
the new ball pair of Goswami and Shikha Pandey. Smriti Mandhana dropped a
chance at slips to get rid of Winfield. After the initial reprieve, the England
batters looked composed hitting boundaries to keep the pressure on Indian
bowlers. The debutant Sneha Rana was bought into the attack and bowled tight
lines and lengths.
After the first hour, the England openers played with
intent. Winfield pounced on the bad balls for 2 sixes. Pooja Vastrakar got her
maiden wicket in Test matches as Taniya Bhatia took a lovely one-handed diving
catch to dismiss Winfield. Beaumont and Winfield added 69 runs for the opening
wicket laying a strong foundation for a big total. Deepti Sharma got some turn
in her first over before the lunch break. At the end of the first session,
England women posted 86 for 1.
Beaumont looked in great touch and completed her fifty off
99 balls. The England captain Heather Knight played some brilliant shots to
keep the momentum for the hosts. Sneha Rana took his maiden Test wicket getting
rid of Tammy Beaumont thanks to a superb effort by Shafali Verma at short-leg.
Beaumont and Knight added 71 runs for the 2nd wicket. The experienced batters of Nat Sciver and
Heather Knight looked comfortable taking England to 162 for 2 at tea break.
The third session saw Heather Knight making the batting look
easy and completed fifty off 115 balls. Nat Sciver showed aggressive putting
Indian bowlers under immense pressure hitting boundaries at will. Both Sciver
and Knight kept on ticking the scoreboard easily looking for a big total.
Deepti Sharma struck for India dismissing Sciver sweeping a full ball given out
LBW. Sciver and Knight added 90 runs for the 3rd wicket. Nat Sciver
and Amy Jones took reviews that were wasted.
Indian women’s team took another quick wicket as Rana
grabbed Amy Jones LBW to leave England's team wobbling. Deepti Sharma dismissed
well-set England, captain Heather Knight. A lovely low catch by Deepti Sharma
resulted in the wicket of George Elwiss leading India’s comeback. Deepti Sharma
and Sneha kept on bowling tight lines and lengths not allowing debutant Dunkley
and Katherine Brunt free runs.
The Indian captain decided to take the 2nd new
ball in the 89th over. Brunt
and Dunkley ensured that England women’s team did not lose any more wickets to
end day 1 at 269 for 6.
England women 269 for 6 in 92 overs (Heather Knight 95, Beaumont
66, Sneha Rana 3/77, Deepti Sharma 2/50)
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