England 202 for 2 (Beaumont 87*, Sciver 74*) beat India 201 by 8 wickets (Raj 72, Raut 32, Ecclestone 3-40, Shrubsole 2-33, Brunt 2-35) by 8 wickets
A combined eight wickets from Sophie Ecclestone, Anya Shrubsole, Katherine Brunt and Kate Cross, followed by fifties from Tammy Beaumont and Natalie Sciver helped England take a 1-0 lead in three matches as they beat Bristol by eight wickets. ODI series.
Chasing 202, and their 100th ODI win at home, England surpassed the Powerplay score of 27 for 2 in just 5.1 overs, making up for the loss of the wicket of Lauren Winfield-Hill in the first ten overs of 61. their number. The run rate throughout the innings remained the study in contrast to India: 82 for 1 in 15 overs, while India scored 45 for 2 in the 19th over and 100 against India in the 32nd over. 150 runs came inside 29 overs and in the other six overs, the hosts chased down the target, the winning run - for India's poor all-round performance - coming from a wide.
England's leading opener in the chase was Beaumont, who remained unbeaten on 87. He followed with Heather Knight and Sciver with two fifty-over partnerships as well as 59 and 119 for the second and third wickets respectively. Sciver also remained unbeaten on 74.
Beaumont thwarted India's three-pronged spin attack with nimble footwork down the track, powerful drives on the off side and abundant use of sweep shots. She reached her fifty, 13th in the format, sweeping a smooth offspinning ball from Deepti Sharma in front of Harmanpreet Kaur at deep square. A spectacular inside-out lofted drive for four was the highlight in Beaumont's gallery of ancient strokes with 12 fours and a six. Equally strong was his six from Kaur to level the score off the final ball of the match.
After Ekta Bisht provided the second breakthrough, taking over the top of Knight's off-stump, scoring 18 off 30 balls in his 50th ODI appearance as England captain, Sciver joined in the fun. India's six-bowler attack was far from a threat, as did their field placement and fielding, and at no point did the visitors consistently make errors from Beaumont or Sciver.
Starting with caution, Sciver picked up the pace through his 15th fifty in ODIs and a gradual acceleration on his way to the 2000-run milestone in the format. Dropped for 12 by Bisht, who overtook Sneh Rana in the second spin-bowling slot in the Indian line-up, Sciver scored a century with Beaumont with a brilliant hit to the bowler's head off Kaur.
Hitting 10 fours and a six in his run-a-ball innings, Sciver conceded 22 for 14 to Bisht, the highest among India's bowlers. The second free hit he made was a boundary pick from seamer Shikha Pandey on back-to-back front-foot no-balls in her fifth over and helped England close to 150. Her attack in Beaumont's company ensured that debutant Sofia Dunkley had to wait longer for her maiden ODI innings.
Earlier, in cloudy, windy conditions, on a new pitch with good carry and movement, which changed little as the match progressed, Brunt and Shrubsole's opening five-over spell in the powerplay helped India No room was given to leave an early impression on the proceedings. In an exemplary display of discipline and reliance on scrambled-seam variations, the fast bowling tandem denied India scoring opportunities after England opted to bowl.
The short ball also had a good effect. Debutante Shafali Verma, who at the age of 17 years and 150 days, became the youngest player - male or female - to represent India in all formats of the game, fell on a failed bridge while backing down from a brunt offcutting bouncer. Went.
Considering the widespread trend of sluggish scoring that has been the cornerstone of India's innings, even number 3 Poonam Raut failed to inject any urgency to her approach. The first change was Sciver, who went without a wicket, in his second over with two fours in both the punches of Raut's front leg. She hit two fours in her 61-ball 32, before 56 off 96 balls for the third wicket with Mithali Raj caught by Raut at mid-off by Ecclestone.
England did not introduce spin in the form of left-arm spinner Ecclestone, who finished 3 for 40, or legspinner Sarah Glenn until the 21st over and her dominant pace, Brunt and Shrubsole, could hold off on the second spell. It was a measure of the hosts' control over the innings just before the 30th over.
Kaur was the next to depart. Attempting to move the Ecclestone arm ball towards third man, the India vice-captain's back-foot stroke gave wicketkeeper Amy Jones a slight edge.
India crawled to 100 in 31.5 overs after Deepti Sharma joined Raj in the middle and restored the left-right combination. Shrubsole returned his second spell in the 42nd over. Off the first ball, Raj completed his 56th ODI half-century and hit a four at mid-on to cheers from the crowd of 1200. A ball later, however, Sharma became England's fifth - and Shrubsole's second - wicket that day, trying to nudge one off the pads after the ball saw her ping down the front of leg and over the off. India reviewed but without any success.
The arrival of Pooja Vastrakar at the crease marked a change of gear for India. Raj then showed more readiness at raising the run rate, slipping past point and picking the area behind short fines for back-to-back fours off Shrubsole, who conceded 15 runs in the 44th over, which was the second half of that. That was the most in an over till the point. .
In the first over of Ecclestone's second and final spell, an indefatigable attempt to thump the ball from the keeper saw Raj lose his off-stump. In an innings that had everything from a blow to his forearm, reluctance to take the short ball head-on to allow the anchor to rebuild, Raj's 72 off 108 balls was crucial in India's pursuit of a respectable score. Proved.
7 Vastrakar's 17-ball 15, however, India would not have reached the score of 200. In the end, the 201 proved to be far from enough to challenge the ODI world champions.