England are still hanging on by a thread in their attempt to retain their World Cup title after beating India by four wickets for their first win of the tournament.
This was a much more polished performance in the field by Heather Knight’s team as they bowled India out for 134 in 36.2 overs, their lowest total in a World Cup match since 2009. Charlie Dean, the 21-year-old off spinner, led the way by taking four wickets.
This was Dean’s second World Cup match and she finished with impressive figures of four for 23. Anya Shrubsole, who has had a quiet tournament so far, took two early wickets to become the sixth English woman to reach 100 ODI scalps.
England still require snookers to qualify for the semi-finals, having lost their first three matches of the tournament, but they have at least given themselves a chance. Knight’s team must win their remaining games — against New Zealand, Pakistan and Bangladesh — and hope that other results go their way.
Still, this was a much-improved performance, in which many of the basic errors that had plagued England in the first three matches were eliminated, and the large margin of victory could be a factor if qualification comes down to net run rate.
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There were signs that they had turned a corner early on when Sophia Dunkley took an extraordinary diving catch a point to remove the India captain, Mithali Raj, off the bowling of Shrubsole.
India were reduced to 28 for three when Deepti Sharma was run out by Kate Cross at the end of the eighth over and that became 61 for four when Harmanpreet Kaur became Dean’s first victim, edging a full ball to Amy Jones behind the stumps. Dean, who made her international debut last September against New Zealand, took three for 14 from her first five overs.
India never recovered from their poor start and losing their first seven wickets for 86 runs. The opener, Smriti Mandhana, could do little but try to anchor the innings, while losing partners at regular intervals, and the experienced batter faced 58 balls in her knock of 35 before becoming Sophie Ecclestone’s only victim, trapped leg-before.
Richa Ghosh did her best to get her side to a defendable score, making a solid 33 before she too was run out trying to chase a quick single, and it was Dean who wrapped up the innings, taking her fourth wicket to dismiss Meghna Singh in the 37th over.
Chasing low totals can play tricks on the mind and when England were reduced to four for two, losing both openers inside the first three overs, there would have been some real nerves in the camp. However, there was a return to form for the captain Knight, who hit a well-executed half-century, ably supported by 45 from the all-rounder Nat Sciver, the pair hitting 16 boundaries between them in a partnership of 65.
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Amy Jones fell for ten to an athletic catch by Harmanpreet, running backwards from mid-on and grabbing the ball after a well-timed leap, but Dunkley gave good support to her captain as they tried to chase down the modest total in quick time. She showed real skill in her cameo of 17 from 21 balls before edging behind with seven runs needed. England lost Katherine Brunt two balls later before Ecclestone brought up the winning runs with a four off Meghna. Knight finished unbeaten on 53 from 72 deliveries.
“It’s really pleasing to get a win on the board with a pretty good performance and hopefully this is the start of some wins,” Shrubsole said. “It’s been a while since we’ve won, we can’t make any secrets about that. It’s been a tricky tour.
“This is one of four that we need to win. We’ll celebrate obviously, but then it’s about getting to Auckland and turning our focus to the New Zealand game.”
England’s remaining fixtures
Sunday v New Zealand Auckland
March 24 v Pakistan Christchurch
March 27 v Bangladesh Wellington
