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Niharika

WOMEN IN BLUE

After 7 long years, Indian women cricketers finally got a chance to play a Test match. This test match was played against England at the Bristol Country Ground marked the return of the women's team in the Test format after 2401 days!


ONE-OFF TEST MATCH

The more experienced England players had almost won the match but Mithali Raj's crew managed to pull off a nearly lost match. A stellar performance by the young prodigy, Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana helped the team to avert a humiliating defeat.


Shafali Verma and Sneh Rana in action during the Test match (Photos by Ashley Allen/ Getty Images)


In the first innings, England's left-arm Sophie Ecclestone's four for 88 gave England a 165-run lead even after the openers, Shafali Verma scored 96 runs off 152 balls; Smriti Mandhana scored 78 runs off 155 balls. In the second innings, England's Nat Sciver bowled 16 overs (9 maiden overs) and picked up two crucial wickets of Punam Raut and Smriti Mandhana. In the end, it came down to the chase by Sneh Rana and Taniya Bhatia. Shafali Verma bagged the 'The Player of the Match' award.



FIRST ODI

The India women tour of England consists of 3 ODIs and 3 T20s. On Sunday, England women won the first ODI by eight wickets; all thanks to the combined eight wickets taken by English bowlers- Sophie Ecclestone, Kate Cross, Katherine Brunt, and Anya Shrubsole; 119-run partnership by Tammy Beaumont (87 not out off 87 balls) and Nat Sciver (74 not out off 74 balls). It was England's 100th ODI win at home. Their run rate remained steady; chasing the target of 202 looked like a cakewalk for them. Tammy Beaumont made the chase easier as she had two fifty-plus partnerships- 59 runs off the second wicket with skipper Heather Knight and 119 runs off the third wicket with Nat Sciver.


Nat Sciver hitting a four (via Instagram/ @natsciver)



Debutant Shafali Verma (17 years and 150 days) became the youngest player- male or female- to represent India in all formats fell prey to Katherine Brunt's bouncer. Mithali Raj's 72 runs of 108 balls and Pooja Vastrakar's 15 runs off 17 balls helped achieve a total of 201, even though it wasn't enough to challenge the defending ODI world champions.


England 202 for 2 (Beamont 87*, Sciver 74*) beat India 201 for 8 (Raj 72, Raut 32, Ecclestone 3-40, Shrubshole 2-33, Brunt 2-35) by eight wickets.



SECOND ODI

The second ODI was played on 30th July. England beat India by five wickets, with 15 balls to spare. Unlike the first ODI, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma's 56-run in the opening wicket gave India a better start. However, India slipped from 56 for 0 to 77 for 3 in the span of 29 balls. By the 34th over, Mithali Raj (scored 57th WODI half-century) and Harmanpreet Kaur managed to score 145 runs for 4. With the dismissal of Kaur, scoring 200 runs seemed a far-fetched dream. However, India scored 71 off their last 15 overs to set a target of 222 for England.


Kate Cross, the Player of the Match of Second ODI celebrates the dismissal of Smriti Mandhana (via Instagram/@EnglandCricket)


During the England innings, Jhulan Goswami took wickets of Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight. After losing five wickets, Sophia Dunkley still kept England in the game, hitting six off Shikha Pandey's delivery. Her 92-run partnership with Katherine Brunt helped England win their second ODI.


Jhulan Goswami celebrates the dismissal of Tammy Beaumont with her teammates (via Instagram/@indiancricketteam)


England 225 for 5 (Dunkley 73, Winfield-Hill 42, Brunt 33*, Poonam 2-63) beat India 221 (Raj 59, Verma 44, Cross 5-34, Ecclestone 3-33) by five wickets


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