India Women won by a huge margin of 270 runs at Lord’s. It was a special moment as the famous stadium hosted its first-ever Women’s Test match. While men’s Test cricket has been played at Lord’s since 1884, the venue only welcomed its first Women’s Test this week. India put in a brilliant all-round performance and created history with a memorable win. Kranti Gaud and Yastika Bhatia also achieved a special milestone by earning a place on the Lord’s honours board for their outstanding performances.
England Women won the toss and elected to bowl first. On the back of Smriti Mandhana’s 83 and fine contributions from Deepti Sharma (57), Harmanpreet Kaur (58) and Jemimah Rodrigues (35) India notched up a daunting 285 on the board. The pick of the bowlers for England in that first bowling effort was Sophie Ecclestone for her 3/68 with 2 wickets each for Lauren Filer, Issy Wong and Maddy Villiers. England in reply were in big trouble at 47/4 early on Day 2 after Kranti Gaud ran through the top order. The recovery act came when Nat Sciver-Brunt (44) and Amy Jones (52) added an 84-run stand for the 5th wicket before both got out in quick succession. Kranti Gaud returned into the attack to pick up a maiden Test fifer before England were bundled out for 170 giving India a massive lead of 115 runs. The pick of the bowlers were Kranti Gaud (5/37), Sayali Satghare (2/40) and Sneh Rana (2/41).
India Create History with Big Win at Lord’s
India’s second dig with the bat saw the top order rule the roost. Smriti Mandhana’s 70 along with Shafali Verma’s 33 gave India the perfect base to work with. At number 3, Yastika Bhatia brought up a hundred to remember for the ages before finishing with 113 next to her name. Richa Ghosh sparked some fireworks down the order and brought up an unbeaten 52-ball 50. India decided to declare at 341/7 with a humongous lead of 456. The pick of the bowlers in that English bowling attempt was Sophie Ecclestone for her 5/118.
England required 457 runs to win as they came out to bat late on Day 3. Their farewell queens, Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight were dismissed for 0 and 13 respectively. Alice Capsey (21) and Mady Villiers (26) occupied the crease for a while, but it was far from satisfactory as England ended Day 3 at 130/6 with only Amy Jones (52*) finishing with something substantial next to her name.
Coming into Day 4 India were favourites to win the contest with England requiring 327 runs to win with only 4 wickets in the bank. For a draw they had to bat out around 90 overs and that too seemed unlikely. Sneh Rana struck early as Amy Jones pulled one straight to short midwicket and was dismissed for 54 leaving England at 135/7. A couple of genuine chances went down on the bowling of Kranti Gaud as Sophie Ecclestone and Issy Wong added 22 for the 8th wicket before Deepti Sharma cleaned up the latter with a straighter one.
She then took the 9th wicket very soon as a sharp turner this time around cleaned up Lauren Bell leaving England at 159/9. Sophie Ecclestone played a fine part with the bat as she notched up 50 before becoming the final wicket to fall. The hosts were bowled out for 186 handing India a massive 270-run victory. The pick of the bowlers for India in their second attempt with the ball was Sneh Rana (4/42). Kranti Gaud, Sayali Satghare and Deepti Sharma got 2 wickets each.
It has been a fantasy-filled last 4 days for the Indian women. It felt much needed for them after a heartbreaking loss to Australia last month which knocked them out of the T20 World Cup in the group stage itself. For England, the tough pills keep on coming. They lost the T20 World Cup final to Australia earlier this month at Lord’s and then have gone down on the same ground in whites against India. They also saw two of their greats in Tammy Beaumont and Heather Knight call time on their career. It shall take some time to recover from this, but the Sun always rises and England can be sure of that.