ICC Women’s World Cup | England defeat India to bag their fourth title
England restricted India to 219 handing them a nine-run defeat to deny them their first ever title owing to some outstanding death bowling by Anya Shrubsole and Alex Hartley. Earlier in the game, the hosts could manage to score a below-par 228, but that eventually proved to be sufficient.
Brief scores: England Women 228/7 (Natalie Sciver 51, Sarah Taylor 45; Jhulan Goswami 3/23) beat India Women 219 (Poonam Raut 86, Harmanpreet Kaur 51; Anya Shrubsole 6/46) by 36 runs.
England won the first battle of the game by winning the toss and decided to bat first anticipating the pitch to slow down in the second innings. Both the teams didn’t tinker with their winning combination of their respective semi-final clashes and came with an unchanged XI.
Indian bowlers stage a comeback after England’s strong start
Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont - the highest run-getter in the 2017 Women’s World Cup - started the proceedings for the hosts on a good note and went about their
Jhulan Goswami’s experience restricts England to 228
The pair of Scriver and Taylor looked well set and threw off the Indian bowling attack who were once again struggling against the English batters. The duo brought in their 50-run partnership in the 27th over and looked well set to break the shackles towards the end of the innings. However, India needed someone to step up and who better than veteran Goswami to take charge. Goswami sent Taylor and the incoming Fran Wilson packing in two successive deliveries to script India’s comeback in the game. Scriver got to her half-century but shortly fell victim to Goswami’s lethal bowling who yet again dismissed a set batter to put England under pressure. The incoming Jenny Gunn then complemented Brunt brilliantly to weave a 32-run partnership before Deepti Sharma’s accurate direct hit forced Brunt to take a long walk back to the pavilion. The flurry of runs that were expected to flow never really came as England finished their innings with 228 runs on the board.
English bowlers dominate the Indian batting
Smriti Mandhana faltered yet again at the top falling to Anya Shrubsole this time without opening her account. Mithali Raj and Punam Raut were burdened with the responsibility of getting the Indian innings back on track. The duo went about their task with caution as India finished the first
England script a fairytale comeback to bag the title
Kaur and Raut brought up their 50-run partnership in the 26th over keeping India’s hopes of creating history alive owing to which India reached the 100-run mark in the following over. The strong partnership forced Heather Knight to bring Nate Scriver and Anya Shrubsole back into the attack. The move, however, did not affect the Indian innings as Raut deservingly got to her half-century in her first ever World Cup final. Kaur followed suit and brought up her third half-century in the tournament as India looked in command at the grandest stage. However, Kaur lost her wicket shortly after her fifty trying to throw Hartley off guard by once again trying to hit her for a six. India
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