Match report
Raf Nicholson has filed her report from Hove. The full version will be on our site shortly. Thanks for your company – goodnight.
Jhulan Goswami’s farewell tour started with a flourish as the 39-year-old helped India restrict England to 227 for seven in the first Royal London One Day International at Hove on Sunday, despite an unbeaten maiden ODI half-century from Alice Davidson-Richards.
India then rollicked to their target in 44.2 overs with seven wickets in hand, thanks to fifties from Yastika Bhatia, Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana - the latter falling just nine runs short of a century. “In practice, we had spoken about trying to be more on the front foot,” Mandhana said.
“We learned a few things from England’s mistakes - a few of them got out on the back foot. I am a back foot player, but I was trying to tell myself to be on the front foot. It’s all about the mindset when you go out to bat - I have to keep telling myself not to get carried away.”
Curiously, England chose to omit the two seamers who had been most effective in the T20 leg of the series - Lauren Bell and Freya Davies - and then failed to bring premier bowler Sophie Ecclestone into the attack until the 17th over, when the match was already half-won.
The result hands India first blood in the new ICC Women’s Championship cycle, with the win worth two points in the race towards automatic qualification for the 2025 World Cup.
