England v India 2nd ODI

I went to my first cricket match since having got back to England in April. The weather has been dreadful with a handful of sunny days in the last twelve weeks. Despite a gloomy weather forecast I drove down to Taunton in Somerset to watch the second ODI of the England v India Women’s cricket. It is a five match series and England went 1-0 down at Lords last Sunday. I decided not to go to the match at Lords as everytime I have watched the England girls play there, they have lost the match. My absence did not make any difference and they still lost. That must have been a bit of a shock to them having won their previous 18 matches in a row. I did hear some of the radio commentary and it seems that it was a tense and close match. My drive to Taunton was mostly in heavy but fine rain with headlights on and windscreen wipers going. However on arriving at Taunton the cloudbase was higher and the ground was fairly dry. There was a fairly small crowd at the ground and mostly we were seeking seating that would protect us from the rain if the black clouds actually did what they were threatening to do. I was also trying out a new compact camera today. England won the toss and elected to field.

England fielding

 

This was a must win game for England and I expected them to field their strongest side. Lydia Greenway was out through injury so the side playing was C. Edwards, T Beaumont, S Taylor, A Brindle, J Gunn, L Marsh, D Wyatt, D Hazell, H Knight, K Brunt, and G Elwiss. I had never seen Tammy Beaumont or Georgia Elwiss play before, so it would be interesting to see how they got on.

Changing ends

 

Danielle Hazel bowling in pink shoes

 

Danni Wyatt bends her back

 

The Indian batters were soon in trouble as wickets started falling on what looked like a tricky and damp wicket. In fact they were soon 71 for 9 wickets and it looked like they would soon be all out. Somehow the England bowlers could not finish the job after having made a good start. India finally managed to get another 58 runs to be all out for 128 after 47.5 overs.

 

Finally India are all out

That last 58 runs achieved by A Sharma and G Sultana looked like it could prove costly. Initially when India had looked like scoring only 80 or thereabouts, I thought that Charlotte Edwards would come on for England and knock those runs off by herself. We had got away with only one short rain delay when a shower had sent the players scurrying for cover.  

 

After the lunch break it was time for England to bat.

 

It did not go well with both Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor out for a duck.

 

Tammy Beaumont was hanging in there but scoring extremely slowly. She has a weird looking looping batting action.

The match was rather boring to watch and not a good showcase for the England girls undoubted skills. In fact, India bowled 13 maiden overs during their fielding spell. Laura Marsh only managed to get 3, Katherine Brunt who has saved games before got 1 and Danielle Hazel also went for a duck. It was left to Danny Wyatt to try to get the England total over the modest 129. However despite her valiant and entertaining efforts England were all out for 115 off 47.2 overs.

 

Wyatt and Elwiss depart after a valiant effort that was in vain.

Wow, 2-0 down in the series now.
 

 

The sun actually came out in the evening.

I will be watching the third ODI today that is also at Taunton. It will be interesting to see if there are any changes in the batting order. Maybe either Laura Marsh or Danni Wyatt moving up the order. We definitely need to win this one or the series is lost.

Peewit