Harmanpreet 143*, Renuka four-for help India to unassailable 2-0 lead

By Charlie On Sep 22, 2022

b>India 333 for 5 (Harmanpreet 143*, Deol 58) beat England 245 (Wyatt 65, Renuka 4-57) by 88 runs

Harmanpreet Kaur’s towering unbeaten century delivered India a resounding victory over England at Canterbury and an unassailable 2-0 ODI series lead.

India’s 88-run win, built on Harmanpreet’s 143 not out off 111 balls, means Saturday’s finale at Lord’s will be a dead rubber with England’s best hope now a consolation victory after winning the T20I leg of the tour 2-1.

Asked to achieve the first 300-plus run chase in a women’s ODI after India posted 333 for 5 – their second-highest in the format, England managed 245 in reply, Danni Wyatt’s half-century coming in a losing cause as Renuka Singh claimed four wickets to put the result beyond doubt, India winning with 34 balls to spare.

Having won the toss and opted to bowl first in cool and cloudy conditions, England knew the key to forcing the series to a decider at the home of cricket was to diminish the threat of India’s firing top order.

Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet had carried their side to a commanding seven-wicket win in the opening ODI at Hove on Sunday, with 91 and 74 not out respectively, Mandhana also keeping her side in contention during the T20Is with an unbeaten 79 in the second match.

England started well enough when Kate Cross, playing her 50th ODI, bowled Shafali Verma in the second over of the match and Charlie Dean took a sharp return catch to remove Yasatika Bhatia and break a second-wicket stand of 54.

Opener Mandhana looked dangerous again though, peeling off four fours and swatting Sophie Ecclestone over the fence at wide long-on on her way to 40. But it was Ecclestone who ended Mandhana’s knock with one that spun back in to beat the attempted sweep and strike the side of her back thigh for lbw. At that stage Mandhana had put on 33 runs with Kaur, who carried on in fine touch with Harleen Deol keeping pace nicely.

Deol dispatched Ecclestone down the ground for six to move to 47 and raised her fifty a short time later with a single dabbed through midwicket amd then carried India past the 200-mark with another maximum, swept over deep square leg off Lauren Bell.

By the time Bell had Deol caught by Wyatt at deep midwicket, India were on track to post an imposing total and Harmanpreet was into a stunning rhythm.

Harmanpreet unleashed her signature slog-sweep to devastating effect and was also punishing to the off side, her two sixes over the covers off debutant Freya Kemp bookending a brutal slog off Ecclestone over the deep midwicket boundary.

Kemp, the 17-year-old left-arm seamer who has had an impressive maiden international summer in England’s T20I team, endured a torrid introduction to the longer format. She conceded 82 runs off her 10 overs for just one wicket, that of Pooja Vastrakar, who was caught by Emma Lamb in the 46th over. It was the most runs conceded by an England bowler in a women’s ODI, followed by fellow seamer Bell, who took 1 for 79 from 10 overs.

Harmanpreet added the lion’s share as she and Deepti Sharma piled on another 71 runs after Vastrakar’s dismissal at a staggering partnership run rate of 17.75, the highest for a 50-plus stand in women’s ODIs where data is available.

They took 62 runs off the last three overs, 26 of those coming off the 48th as Kemp sent down six wide deliveries and went for three fours and a six. Harmanpreet helped herself to 18 of the 19 runs Kemp conceded off the final over, including another aerial cover drive for six followed immediately by three consecutive fours to complete a stunning display.

Alice Capsey, the prodigiously talented teenage allrounder, sent a scare through the England camp when she left the field in the 29th over after appearing to jam her finger into the ground trying to stop a well-struck ball from Deol at midwicket.

However, Capsey did come in to bat at No. 4 after England had slumped to 12 for 2 when Tammy Beaumont was run out by none other than Harmanpreet, firing the ball in brilliantly to the non-striker’s end from mid-on and Renuka rearranged Sophia Dunkley’s stumps. Capsey looked determined to fight, dealing only in fours on her way to 24 off 10 balls before working Vastrakar off her pads to deep midwicket for her first single.

The DRS had been on the blink throughout the match due to technical issues and wasn’t available when Lamb was arguably unlucky to be given out lbw to Renuka walking across her stumps and England slid to 47 for 3.

When Capsey fell for 39 steering Deepti to Shafali at mid-off, it was in the hands of experienced duo Wyatt and Amy Jones – England’s acting captain in the absence of the injured Heather Knight and Nat Sciver, who is taking a mental health break – to steady the home side again.

They put on 65 runs together but when Renuka bowled Wyatt for 65 with a dipping yorker to claim her third wicket and Dayalan Hemalatha had Jones stumped with only her third delivery after entering the attack, it felt like only a matter of time before India ended things.

Renuka then claimed her fourth when Ecclestone picked out Deol on the deep midwicket boundary. Soon Shafali picked up her maiden ODI wicket – and third in international cricket – when Cross failed to overturn her lbw dismissal via a now-working DRS. Dean produced a solid knock at No. 9 to reach 37 from 44 balls before she was last batter out, stumped off the bowling of Hemalatha, but the damage was done long, long before – by Harmanpreet.

Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo

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