Women's World Cup 2017

England edged a little further up the Women's World Cup standings with a very comfortable and professional victory over Sri Lanka at a sun-drenched Taunton, in front of the best crowd (around 3,500) of the tournament to date. Taunton really is the ideal setting for women's cricket. It is the ambiance and the friendliness of the ground that make it work, which means the punters enjoy their day and they keep coming back. It helped, of course, that England were playing, and it helped even more that they are playing confident winning cricket. After the game skipper Heather Knight said that she was initially slightly disappointed to have let Sri Lanka put 204/8 on the board, after they had won the toss and decided to bat. Through some disciplined bowling and some decent catching from Sarah Taylor and Fran Wilson, England had reduced Sri Lanka to 145/7, but 8th wicket pair Ranasinghe (26) and Kanchana (34*) frustrated England for another 10 overs and added another 45 runs to the ...

Most cricketers grew up playing some avatar of gully cricket. There is underarm cricket, one side cricket, and most people’s favourite, one-tip-one-hand cricket. There is also tip-and-run; if the ball touches the bat, you have to run. It demands more than just good batting, it demands smart batting; the batter must maneuver the ball into gaps, play with soft hands, and not depend on boundaries. Now, India’s cricketers have left gully cricket far behind. They are playing a World Cup on the lush outfields of faraway England. Against Pakistan, they notched up their third win on the trot. Their total of 169 was well below par, but it proved enough for India’s spinners, who have done much damage in the tournament. At the County ground at Derby, they took seven of the 10 wickets, handing India a 95 run win. But the win was not without some anxious moments. At one stage, Pakistan’s tight bowling and brilliant fielding had restricted India to 111 for six in the 37th over. It was here th...