Bowlers shine again to put eves in control

Indian women bowlers once again came to the rescue to check England’s lead on the second day of the one-off Test here on Thursday.

Surpassing a slender 22-run lead, the Charlotte Edwards-led team had reached 84 for six in 38 overs until latest reports on a rain affected day.

The hosts lost early wickets but were looking steady at 73 for three when play resumed after rain interruption cost them two more wickets with a lead of just 62 runs.

Jhulan Goswami (2/20) started the rot after scalping opnener Heather Knight for nought and Shikha Pandery (1/22) soon got the other opener and danger-woman Lauren Winfield for 35.
Left-arm spinner Ekta Bisht also picked two wickets (2/8) to give the Mithali Raj-led team some hope in the low-scoring game.

Sharing the new ball with Jhulan, Nirangana Nagarajan bagged four wickets in the first innings to skittle out the hosts for 92 runs.

Indian batting though, faltered in the first innings as they were bundled for 114 in 64.2 overs. Nirangana also contributred with the bat, top-scoring with 27 runs.

England medium-pacer Gun bagged a fifer with Kate Cross picking three wickets.
The match now hangs in balance as another two days of play are still left to decide the winner.

Brief score: England 92 and 84/6 in 38 overs (Lauren Winfield 35, Charlotte Edwards 20; Nirangana Nagarajan 4-19) vs India 114 (Smriti Mandhana 22, Nirangana Nagarajan; Jenny Gun 5-19.