London: Sneh Rana’s four-wicket haul in the second innings helped India comfortably defend a target of 457 and beat England by 270 runs on the fourth day of the first women’s Test at Lord’s on Monday.
A decisive final day of the historic tournament began with England 130/6 chasing 457 runs through Amy Jones and Sophie Ecclestone.
Despite Ecclestone’s half-century, England could only add 56 more runs to their overnight score.
The hosts suffered a major setback in the third over when Rana dismissed England’s top-scorer Jones for 54 off 80 balls with six fours.
Following Jones’ departure, Ecclestone took charge of the England side and formed one-sided partnerships with lower-order batsmen Issy Wong (one), Lauren Bell (zero) and Lauren Filler (four not out).
Ecclestone returned after scoring 50 off 66 balls with 6 fours.
Rana was India’s best bowler with 4 wickets for 42 runs in 19.2 overs with Deepti Sharma, Kranthi Goud and Sayali Sadkare picking up 2 wickets each.
A historic match began on Friday when England captain Nat Sciver-friend won the toss and put India in to bat – half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur led India to 285 all out despite Ecclestone’s five wickets.
In turn, England could muster 170 despite Jones’s half-century, resulting in 115 runs behind, with Gowt leading India’s spirited bowling with five wickets, which he backed up with two more scalps in the second innings to earn man of the match honors.
Later, wicketkeeper-batsman Yastika Bhatia’s maiden Test century put India firmly in control as they declared 341/7 in the second innings to set a huge target for England.