Thursday, 05 July 2012
Categories: Cricket - Cricket

India scores 14-run victory against England to take a 2-0 series lead

By ANTHONY MORGAN

AN inspired bowling spell by Jhulan Goswami and a brilliant 10^th wicket partnership between Amita Sharma and Gouher Sultana has helped India to a shock 14-run win over England in the second one day international at the County Ground in Taunton.

Sent in to bat, India made a mess of its start with Katherine Brunt (4-20) and Georgia Elwiss (2-19) combining to restrict the tourists to 34-6 after 15 overs with all but Sharma and Harmanpreet Kaur of their key batsmen back in the pavilion.

It got worse soon after, when Kaur was caught by Brunt off Laura Marsh for 21, and when Nagarajan Niranjana and Archana Das were dismissed in quick succession, India was in strife at 71-9 in the 33^rd over.

Enter Gouher Sultana who, with a previous best of 10 in 18 ODI innings from number 11, was given the responsibility of batting out the remaining overs with Sharma.

The 10^th wicket pair did a great job, batting for 91 balls to put on 58 runs to give India something to bowl at. It was dismissed for 129 in the 48^th over.

Sharma remained unbeaten with 42 while Sultana’s 22 off 53 was priceless given the circumstances of when she came to the crease.

England, who had been chasing totals of this magnitude in a breeze in recent seasons, was suddenly in a contest when Goswami ripped through its two trump cards, Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor, for ducks and restricted the run rate to leave the hosts at 9-2 in the seventh over.

When Arran Brindle and Heather Knight fell, England was 43-4 in the 18^th over and the match was there for the taking.

A clutch, albeit slow, 34-run partnership for the fifth wicket between Tammy Beaumont (31) and Jenny Gunn appeared to put England on track, but Sultana had Beaumont stumped before Goswami returned to knock over Gunn for 20.

After Laura Marsh was dismissed cheaply, Veda Krishnamurthy (2-14 off 10) ripped through Brunt and Danielle Hazell in consecutive balls to put India on the verge of victory with England at 89-9.

It was not lost yet, though, for England as Danni Wyatt (19 not out) and Elwiss threatened to replicate India’s wonderful 10^th wicket stand.

It was not to be, however, as Goswami (4-17) returned in the 48^th over to knock over Elwiss for 10 and England for 115.

The win gives the tourists a 2-0 lead, after their earlier victory at Lord’s, in the five-match series.

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