India claim two wickets before lunch after posting 428 in first innings

Navi Mumbai, Dec 15 (IANS) Restricted to 428 in their first innings after starting on overnight 410/7, India Women came back strongly to claim two early wickets as England Women reached 67/2 in 16 overs at lunch on the second day of the four-day one-off Test at the DY Patil Stadium here on Friday.

Pacers Renuka Singh Thakur and Pooja Vastrakar struck a blow each as they claimed opener Sophia Dunkley (11) and skipper Heather Knight (11) respectively to give India the edge.

At lunch, Nat Sciver-Brunt was batting on a run-a-ball 35 with opener Tammy Beaumont on six from 28 deliveries.

India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur started with spin from one end and it paid. Though off-spinner Sneh Rana did not get a wicket, her tight bowling helped Renuka Singh Thakur claim her first Test wicket.

Debutante Renuka Singh made the breakthrough for India in the third over when her delivery moved in off the pitch and got through the big gap between the bat and pad to crash into the middle stump. England were down to 13/1.

Vastrakar then made it 28/2 in the eighth over when he sent back the dangerous Heather Knight, the England skipper and their most experienced player. The ball moved in from outside off, evaded the bat and struck Knight's back foot plumb in front of the stumps. The England captain reviewed the decision but the DRS showed there was no bat involved.

The Indian bowlers however failed to press home the advantage as they bowled loose deliveries at regular intervals, allowing Nat Sciver-Brunt to hammer seven boundaries in her 35-ball unbeaten 35. Sneh Rana bowled a couple of tight overs but the Indians still allowed at least a boundary now and then.

Earlier, the Indian first innings lasted only 37 minutes on the second morning as Deepti Sharma added seven runs to her overnight score to get out for 67.

The end could have come a bit earlier for Indian Women if their opponents had not dropped two catches in the morning.

India scored 428 in 104.3 overs, thus making their second-highest total ever in women's Test cricket. They hoping to cross the 450-run mark or go past their highest total ever, the 467 they scored against England at Taunton two years back.

Nat Sciver-Brunt Sophie Ecclestone cleaned up the last two Indian wickets to end up with figures of 3-91 while Lauren Bell was the most successful of the England bowlers with 3-67.

Brief scores:

At Lunch, Day 2: India 428 all out in 104.3 overs (Shubha Satheesh 69, Jemimah Rodrigues 68, Yastika Bhatia 66, Deepti Sharma 67, Harmanprret Kaur 49; Lauren Bell 3-67, Sophie Ecclestone 3-91) against England Women 67/2 in 16 overs (Nat Sciver-Brunt batting 35, Tammy Beaumont batting 6; Renuka Thakur 1-23, Pooja Vastrakar 1-18).