London: Taylors-Sarah and Claire led England to series-clinching 8-wicket victory in the rain-truncated third ODI over India at Taunton on Thursday.
Sarah smashed 17- ball 24 and Claire remained undefeated on run-a-ball 29 as English eves chased down the revised target of 99 in 16.4 overs with as many as eight wickets intact. Skipper Charlotte Edwards contributed with a solid 25.
England eves take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match ODI series.
Earlier India reached 126/2 in 35.2 overs with well-set Mithali batting on 79-ball 55 before a downpour ruined their innings. Application of D/L method meant England were set 99 to win from 21 overs which they acheived with ease.
Edwards and young batting sensation Sarah Taylor gave England the perfect start with a quickfire 46-run stand for the opening wicket. Sarah, who is in good nick, looked set for big one before an unfortunate run-out ended her stay at the wicket. She dispatched the cherry to the fence on five occassions in her 17-ball innings.
Edwards joined by Claire Taylor in the middle and the duo played a composed innings dealing in singles with odd boundary hit as England edged closer. Left-arm spinner Gouhar Sultana removed Edwards, caught by Niranjana Nagarajan, for 25.
Claire Taylor, in her 100th one-day appearance for England, stood firm to guide her side home. Lydia Greenway remained unbeaten on 18.
Earlier Edwards made a judicious decision in opting to field on a gloomy day. New ball bowlers Brunt and Isa Guha backed
Edwards' decision with a testing first spell. Brunt rapped the out-of-sorts opener Kavita Jain on backfoot on off and middle stump line.
Jaya Sharma (42), who is struggling to find scoring touch-like the other top-order batters, found hard to negotiate the pace and seam movement of Brunt and Guha. She took as many as 54 balls to hit first boundary. Jaya Sharma took the spinners on and scored some brisk runs, especially, off Colvin. Her 94-ball knock was ended when Nicki Shaw had her stumped.
Mithali, at the other end, played a fluent knock. She pulled, drove and cut the spinners and seamers with elan.
With series already out of their pockets India eves will have to pull up socks and get some wins under their belts ahead of the all-important Women's T20 World Cup later this year.
Brief Scores: India eves 126/2 in 35.2 overs (Mithali Raj 55 n o, Jaya Sharma 42; Kate Brunt 1/10, Nicki Shaw 1/28) lost to England 99/2 in 16.4 overs (Claire Taylor 29, Charlotte Edwards 25, Sarah Taylor 24; Gouhar Sultana 1/11).
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Tags: womens cricket,
england,
india,
t20 international,
sarah taylor,
mithali raj.
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