Eng 21/1 at stumps in reply to India’s 285 on Day 1 of one-off women’s Test

London, July 10: Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Deepti Sharma struck well-timed fifties but regular strikes helped England bundle out India for 285 on the opening day of the one-off women’s Test here on Friday.
At close, England were 21 for one with Maya Bouchier (17 not out) and Heather Knight (1 not out) holding fort after Kranti Goud jettisoned Tammy Beaumont (2).
The hosts trail by 264 runs.
Before Deepti (57) came up with a familiar later order resistance, India were served well by Mandhana (83) and Harmanpreet (58).
Mandhana guided the Indian innings early after Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia were dismissed inside the first seven overs, leaving India at 37 for two. But Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues (35) stitched a breezy 64-run stand for the third wicket as India recovered well to go past 100 without further loss. It was double barrel firing as Mandhana and Rodrigues tore into the English attack in their own inimitable styles.
The left-hander was severe on pacer Lauren Filer, carting her for two fours in a row, before smashing spinner Sophie Ecclestone (3/68) for a six, a slog-sweep over mid-wicket.
Rodrigues sent Ecclestone, who later surpassed Katherine Sciver-Brunt (335 wickets) to become England’s leading wicket-taker (338 wickets) in international cricket, twice to the ropes in succession as India motored at over six runs an over during their alliance.
But Rodrigues’ attempt to reach out to a wide delivery off pacer Issy Wong had disastrous consequences, as the ball disturbed the stumps after taking her bat’s edge.
India needed a continuation of that stand in the middle phase to retain their control, and the tourists did just that through Mandhana and Harmanpreet.
The fourth-wicket pair milked 89 runs as India continued to dominate a bit off-colour England bowling unit.
Test debutant spinner Mady Villiers and Filer gave them a semblance of control but Harmanpreet was equal to the task, driving them through cover region.
However, Mandhana fell while approaching a century, edging Wong to stumper Amy Jones.
Harmanpreet too fell at the stroke of tea, bowled by a lovely off-break from Villiers.
India went to tea at 202 for five, and needed a few more runs to give a reasonable challenge to England on a pitch that offered some grip to spinners.
Deepti made a useful 45-run partnership with Sneh Rana to take India past the 250-run mark, but by then England bowlers had regained a bit of good rhythm.
At one point, India were 190 for three but English bowlers found their range to pluck the rest of the seven wickets for 85 runs, and it may rankle India later in the match. (PTI)