Taunton, July 1: England beat India by five wickets in the second women’s ODI to take a 2-0 series-clinching lead here.
Sophia Dunkley (73 not out) and Katherine Brunt (33 not out) shared 92 runs for the unbroken sixth wicket to chase down the target of 222 with 15 balls to spare on Wednesday.
Opener Lauren Winfield-Hill (42) was the other notable contributor for England.
For India, leg-spinner Poonam Yadav took two wickets for 63 runs while veteran Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey and Sneha Rana got one wicket each.
Earlier, captain Mithali Raj top-scored with 59 off 92 balls and stitched a 68-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Harmanpreet Kaur (19) as India were all out for 221 after being put in to bat.
Put in to bat, Smriti Mandhana (22) and Shafali Verma (44) gave India a good start, adding 56 runs in 11.5 overs before the former played one on to her stumps to become the first victim of Cross.
Jemimah Rodrigues (8), who replaced Punam Raut in the playing XI, continued to struggle with the bat as Cross induced a leading edge from the batter to leave India at 76 for two in 16 overs.
Verma, who scored seven fours in her 55-ball innings, was then flummoxed by Sophie Ecclestone with wicketkeeper Amy Ellen Jones producing a sharp stumping in the next over.
Raj and vice-captain Harmanpreet Kaur then steadied the innings, sharing 68 runs off 103 balls to take India across the 100-run mark.
However, Cross once again returned to break the partnership, this time getting rid of Kaur, who ended up getting a leading edge – similar to Rodrigues – and was easily pouched by the bowler. (PTI)
