Stabroek News

-Wyatt, Sharma stroke half centuries

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India defeated England by 11 runs at the Providence Stadium yesterday during the penultimat­e warm-up match of the Internatio­nal Cricket Council’s (ICC) Women’s World T20.

India won the toss and elected to bat, posting 1446 from their allotted overs with Deepti Sharma scoring a half century while restrictin­g England to 1338 from their quota despite a fifty from Danielle Wyatt.

After a quiet first over, India shifted gears with Smriti Mandhana hitting Natalie Sciver for two boundaries only to be undone by a short ball which she hooked into the hands of Lindsey Smith for 13 from eight balls.

India brought up their team fifty in 44 balls with 35-year-old Mithali Raj and 18-year-old Jemimah Rodrigues rotating the strike and turning over the scoreboard.

However, the 38-run stand was broken when Rodrigues tried to go over the top of the England captain, Heather Knight, only to have Sciver settle under it and dismiss the younger batter for 21 from as many deliveries.

Raj departed soon after for 18 from 25 balls to a good catch by Sophia Dunkley running back off of Knight as India stood at 60-3 at the halfway stage.

Anya Schrubsole was brought back into the attack and trapped Veda Krishnamur­thy.

Hemalatha Dayalan batting deep in her crease tried to work Sophie Ecclestone to the offside only to chop the ball on to her stumps.

It took India 16 balls after Harmanpree­t Kaur dispatched Danielle Hazell over the ropes for the first six of the innings to hit another boundary, coming off of the bat of Kaur once again, who launched Schrubsole into the long on boundary for another six.

Kaur and Sharma accelerate­d the scoring in the back half of the innings, bringing up their 50-run partnershi­p off of just 32 balls with a cheeky edge past the keeper for a boundary, the second in the over.

Sharma departed in the following over for 18 but Kaur brought up her half century off 28 balls with back-to-back boundaries.

After reaching the landmark, Sharma started chipping down the ground even launching Ecclestone into the stands at long on. The 21-year-old who hails from Agra, Uttar Pradesh, the home of the Taj Mahal and Suresh Raina, was misstumped on 59 and remained unbeaten on 62 from just 32 balls, inclusive of three sixes and six fours. Sharma shared in a nine-ball, 20-run stand with Radha Yadav while Shrubsole and Knight bagged two wickets each.

In reply, Wyatt was the anchor of the innings, scoring 55 from 53 balls inclusive of two boundaries. Her running between the wickets was spectacula­r, working out the field to gather 10 doubles and shared in partnershi­ps of 29 with Amy Jones (11) and 26 with Lauren Winfield (19).

Wyatt was fortunate after being dropped on 50 and missed being stumped on two occasions but was out with a sharp return catch from Sharma.

Taniya Bhatia made amends for her mistakes and was instrument­al in two stumpings.

Poonam Yadav was the pick of the bowlers, taking 3-20 while Radha Yadav and Sharma bagged two wickets each.

 ?? (Orlando Charles photo) ?? India celebrates
(Orlando Charles photo) India celebrates

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