London: Debutant off-spinner Mady Villiers struck a sensational blow on the final delivery of the afternoon session to dismiss India captain Harmanpreet Kaur, as hosts England fought their way back to leave the visitors at 202/5 in 51.2overs at tea on the first day of the one-off Test at Lord’s on Friday.
While the first session majorly belonged to India, England’s bowlers roared back into the contest in the post-lunch session by showing discipline in their bowling and picking up the crucial wickets of set batters Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet, who both compiled 83 and 58, respectively.
Resuming from 122/3 in 25 overs, Smriti and Harmanpreet (58) frustrated the hosts by taking India past the 150-run mark. Smriti was in splendid touch, using her feet elegantly against premier left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone and executing crisp pulls off the fast bowlers. At the other end, Harmanpreet battled intensely through physical discomfort and needed continuous medical attention from the team physio for troubles in her hand and hamstring.
Scoring mainly through the off-side, Harmanpreet reached her second Test half-century off 99 balls with a drive off Mady. However, England’s persistence soon broke the 79-run stand off 155 balls against the run of play. Fast bowler Issy Wong, operating with supreme control, induced a faint outside edge from Smriti, as she fell 17 short of a historic century after being caught neatly behind by a diving Amy Jones standing up to the stumps.
England also burned two unsuccessful reviews during the session – one for a caught-behind off Smriti and another off Deepti Sharma (five not out). Just as the session seemed to be closing out evenly, Mady tossed one up beautifully outside off, and lured Harmanpreet into an expansive drive before turning sharply through the gate to castle the skipper and give England more delight at the stroke of tea break.
Brief scores:
India 202/5 in 51.2 overs (Smriti Mandhana 83, Harmanpreet Kaur 58; Issy Wong 2-41, Mady Villiers 1-22) against England
(IANS)
