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
In the 36th over of India’s innings today, Alyssa Healy threw in the ball, hard. So hard that she broke the electrical circuit in the stumps. It wasn't the only thing broken today. By the end of the 42nd over - a foreshortened game, today, due to rain - India had finally broken the Australian bowling attack. What’s more, they broke it so hard that - unlike the stump, which could be replaced (almost) immediately - it crumbled into nothing and saw Australia flying home, having failed to make the final of a global tournament for the first time since 2009. I say India. Really, though, today belongs to one player: Harmanpreet Kaur. She had walked out to bat in the 10th over, with India 35-2 - Smriti Mandhana continuing her run of low scores (caught at cover for 6); swiftly followed by Punam Raut holing out to deep midwicket. There was initially little sign of the onslaught to come. The first five balls she faced went: dot, 1, dot, dot, 1. The fifth, though, was crea
Nat Sciver not only scored her second hundred of the tournament and took England into the semi-finals, but she created her own shot - the Natmeg - clipping a full ball on her leg stump through her own legs - not once, but twice!! It epitomised the confidence with which she, and indeed the whole of the England team, are batting at the present time. England ended up comfortable winners, by 75 runs, against a workmanlike Kiwi team, thanks to a partnership of 170 between Tammy Beaumont (93) and Sciver (129), which took them to a formidable 284/9 in their 50 overs. Having won the toss Heather Knight had no hesitation in batting, but when Lauren Winfield, Sarah Taylor and she herself, were all out with the score on 52 in the 14th over, it looked like England may struggle to set a total that would put fear into the Kiwi batsmen. But that was not to count for Beaumont and Sciver. Beaumont had made a cautious start, but buoyed by the assurance of Sciver she began to find the gaps in the
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