England take 4-2 lead in multi-format series against India after winning eight wickets at Bristol; Tammy Beaumont (87th) and Nat Sciver (74th) lead England to the 202 victory goal with 91 balls to spare; watch the second ODI live on Sky Sports Cricket from 1:30 p.m. Wednesday
Tammy Beaumont and Nat Sciver shared an unbroken partnership of 119 as England Women topped India’s slow total of 201-8 to win the first ODI at Bristol by eight wickets and take a 4-2 lead in the multi-format series.
England starter Beaumont showed great intention, timing, footwork and power in a run 87, while Sciver was also extremely impressive and aggressive, hitting 74 of as many deliveries and England came home with 91 balls to spare. .
India, by contrast, hit at a pedestrian pace, scoring 181 points in an inning that was backed by captain Mithali Raj’s unambitious 72 of 108 deliveries, her 56th ODI 50.
Left arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone (3-40) – who pitched Raj in 46th – and closers Katherine Brunt (2-35), Anya Shrubsole (2-33) and Kate Cross (1-23) led the way. England’s attack on wandering tourists, with Brunt feeling India was 50 runs below par.
Proactive punches from Beaumont and Sciver led to England’s clinical response, Sciver punishing India for dropping her with 12, with her 116-ball position seeing England advance in the multi-format series, which continues with the second of three ODIs at Taunton. on Wednesday.
Lauren Winfield-Hill hit 16 of 10 balls after opening for England in an ODI for the first time since 2017, while Captain Heather Knight scored 18 of 30, playing second fiddle in a 59-run partnership with Beaumont for the second wicket. .
Knight, whose team tied the single event with India at the same place last week, will be disappointed that she couldn’t kick the bat, but delighted with her team’s frugal bowling and brilliant race pursuit.
India made things easy enough for England at times, getting into their shell with the bat once Shafali Verma (15 of 14) and Smriti Mandhana (10 of 25) were sacked by Brunt and Shrubsole respectively in the power play.
Raj needed 96 balls to reach his half century and although he shared positions of 56 and 65 with Punam Raut (32) and Deepti Sharma (30) respectively, those slow alliances did not hurt England.
Raj and Sharma started to accelerate around the 40 plus mark when India was 134-4, but neither could hit until the end of a prosaic team inning, one in which Harmanpreet Kaur made just a single before laughing at Ecclestone for behind.
India was unable to mark another limit once Raj was castled by Ecclestone, losing Pooja Vastrakar (15 to 17) lbw to Ecclestone and Taniya Bhatia (7) overtaken by Amy Jones to Brunt, before surpassing 200 in the final. .
England then minced that total, with the teams’ first ODI against each other since the 2017 World Cup final at Lord’s in stark contrast to that nail-biting affair four years ago.
India was only able to eliminate Winfield-Hill, caught behind Jhulan Goswami, and Knight, thrown by an Ekta Bisht beauty as she advanced and looked to hit the side.
They should have hit Sciver at 12, but Ekta Bisht couldn’t hold onto the thin, short leg as the England player swept Harmanpreet.
Beaumont seemed poised for an eighth century ODI at one stage, but Sciver’s acceleration to death dashed those hopes.
Beaumont tied the wings by shooting Harmanpreet for six in the 35th, before an upcoming wide ball sealed England’s most complete victory.
Watch Taunton’s second ODI live on Sky Sports Cricket from 1.30pm on Wednesday.
