It was a sweet revenge for India who spun a web around England women’s team to win the second Twenty20 here at MCA ground in Bandra-Kurla Complex on Saturday. Debutant off-spinner Diana David (2/21), left-arm spinner Gouher Sultana (2/16) and part-time offie Poonam Raut (3/12) shared seven wickets among them to skittle the visitors out for 96. At one point, England were 43 for 3.
Chasing 127, England lost skipper Charlotte Edwards in the third over. A fine piece of fielding from Raut sent one-down Beth Morgan back to the dugout in the very next over. Jenny Gunn and opener Lydia Greenway put together 29 runs before David got her first wicket, fine glovework from Sulakshana Naik sending Gunn back.
But 21-year-old Danielle Hazell showed lot of maturity. At three down, she put on 35 runs, the highest partnership of the England innings, for the 4th wicket before Raut ran out Greenway. After Greenway’s fall, no other England batswomen showed any resistance. The slow and muddy wicket helped David, Raut and Sultana to spin the visitors out of the game.
Earlier, Mithali Raj, who was leading in place of an injured Jhulan Goswami, chose to bat. Opener Naik had a good day in office scoring 34 before accounting for four victims behind the stumps. A late charge from Harmanpreet Kaur ensured India passed their last match total by one run.
Brief scores: India 126/7 (Naik 36; Hazell 3/20) bt England 96 (Greenway 29, Raut 3/12) by 30 runs.
