da marjack bet： England women have beaten India women with the last ball of the game atLincoln Ground, Christchurch today in the final group match of the Women’sCricket World Series, winning the game by one run
ECB Media Release25-Dec-2009England women have beaten India women with the last ball of the game atLincoln Ground, Christchurch today in the final group match of the Women’sCricket World Series, winning the game by one run.Matches between the two teams have, historically, been close affairs but itcould not have been tighter with England posting their highest total of thecompetition reaching 208-4. Charlotte Edwards, England’s prolific batsman,returned to form scoring 79 not out from 94 balls, including 10 fours.England’s batting performance was a massive improvement on the precedingmatches. All four top order batsman comfortably reached double figures andEdwards, with Arran Thompson, put on 98 for the fourth wicket, breaking theEngland ODI record against India, which had stood since 1986.The new look opening pair of Collyer and Leng proved successful for thesecond match in succession reaching 64 and scoring at four an over beforeCollyer was stumped for 33.India’s stylish young batter, Muthali Raj, who had proved England’s nemesiswhen the teams last summer led the India reply with a magnificent 98.At the start of the forty-third over India were 182-4 needing just 27 moreruns, with Raj settled at the crease on 87 and Kala in support on 37. Adirect hit run out from Laura Newton, who with Thompson had been formidablein the field, began India’s slide. Connor then bowled David for 5 but Indiastill looked favourites needing 11 runs from 18 balls.The next wicket was crucial as Raj was run out at the bowlers end whilst herpartner, Al-Khadir, chased a risky single trying to give Raj back thestrike. England sensed an opportunity and proceeded to take four wicketsfor nine runs in the final two overs.Sharma was bowled by Connor for 0 and Kanojia was run out in a bizarreincident when ‘keeper Claire Taylor didn’t take a run out chance at her endbut threw back to the bowler who did remove the bails.Needing two from four, Sarah Collyer was the one cool head in the ground andshe produced an exemplary over with three dot balls before clean bowlingGoswami with the final ball of the match to the delight of her England teammates.England Captain, Clare Connor admitted ‘we always believed we could do ittoday and we’ve talked about the need to start posting scores of 200 ormore. Everyone showed a lot of character in the closing stages and we kepttogether well. We need to beat India tomorrow and prove we are the thirdbest team in the world. Our performances against New Zealand and Australiahave been better in this Series than at any time in the past eight years sowe are definitely moving in the right direction. I really couldn’t haveasked anything more from the team today’.It was England’s first double century total against India since 1999 atTrent Bridge, and Edwards admitted ‘I just loved it out there today. Ienjoyed coming in at three, and Arran and I batted well together’. Thepartnership certainly worked well. Once Edwards had spread the field, thepair ran hard for two’s and three’s whilst always capable of dispatchingloose deliveries to the boundary. Thompson showed the confident form whichdominated India bowling attacks last winter with the assurance of Edwardsdominating at the other end.Edwards admitted ‘we had to play with some pride today because we’veunder-performed out here. Now we have to beat them again tomorrow andsecure 3rd place’.The teams will face each other again tomorrow (Friday 7th February) in the3rd place play-off, with Australia and New Zealand meeting in the Final onSaturday 8th February.