Sarah Glenn finished with bowling figures of 4-23 while Sophia Dunkley (61 not out) and Alice Capsey (32 not out) shared a 73-run partnership to carry England to victory in 13 overs.
Last Updated: 10/09/22 10:53pm
Sophia Dunkley finished unbeaten on 61 as she steered England to a nine-wicket win against India
Sarah Glenn claimed a maiden four-wicket haul while Sophia Dunkley fired a half-century as England beat India by nine wickets in the first of their three IT20 matches in Durham.
India lost the toss and were sent out to bat in tough conditions as spinner Glenn amassed career-best figures of 4-23 while tail-ender Deepti Sharma top-scored with an unbeaten 29 to leave the visitors 132-7 after their allotted overs.
Dunkley made light work of the run chase after an early wicket scare in the first over, finishing the job 61 not out off 44 balls alongside Alice Capsey (32 off 20 deliveries) to lead England to their target of 133 after just 13 overs.
Amy Jones captained the side in place of Nat Sciver, who withdrew from the England squad earlier this week to focus on her mental health.
The two teams honoured Queen Elizabeth II prior to the start of play with a minute’s silence, as had been the case earlier in the day ahead of the men’s Test against South Africa.
India started brightly with the bat and made 30 before Smriti Mandhana (23 off 20 deliveries) was trapped lbw by spinner Byrony Smith immediately after England had unsuccessfully reviewed a wicket appeal having caught the opener’s pads.
Smith was involved again shortly after when she caught Shafali Verma for 14 at long-on off the bowling of Glenn, who brought up her second wicket moments later by dismissing Dayalan Hemalatha with a straight forward lbw decision for the umpires.
Skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (20 off 15 deliveries) showed nice touch upon arrival and, alongside Richa Ghosh (16 off 12 deliveries), helped India retake control of the contest before the latter was caught by Smith off Freya Davies to leave the visitors 83-4 after 11.4 overs. Kaur was then undone by a low ball from Glenn to peg her side back to 88-5 an over later.
England would concede just eight runs across the 16th, 17th and 18th overs before Pooja Vastrakar was run out for three for 119-7 after failing to slide her bat while coming back for a second.
Sarah Glenn celebrates the wicket of Shafali Verma
Dunkley escaped an immediate setback for England after clipping behind to the lightning hands of Ghosh on the third ball, prompting Indian celebrations only for the wicket to be scratched off for a no-ball.
England capitalised on the early fortune to take 13 off the second over, during which India’s Radha Yadav was forced off after landing awkwardly on her right shoulder at backward point. She was subsequently replaced in the field by Simran Bahaduris.
Having finished the powerplay 56-0, the opening partnership was finally broken when Danni Wyatt (24 off 16 deliveries) was stumped by Ghosh after shuffling down the pitch to Sneh Rana.
Alice Capsey plays a cut shot in England’s nine-wicket win against India at Riverside, Chester-le-Street
That would prove the sole hiccup on the way to victory for England, Dunkley and Alice Capsey punishing poor fielding with clinical batting to reach a 51-run partnership from 26 balls that left them needing just 22 from 58.
Dunkley brought up a second IT20 half-century off 36 balls while Capsey matched her aggression with a quickfire 32 to carry their team over the line with some ease.
Jones: England top three ‘unbelievable’
“I think first game of the series it’s important to start confidently and the girls did that so it was brilliant to see,” said England skipper Jones.
“I think I’m very quiet in all aspects of life to be honest, I think all the girls know it (captaincy) is not something that necessarily comes naturally to me and the girls all really stepped up today which made it much easier.
“I think we thought we’d kept them to a good score and the pitch is a bit skiddy so we knew we had to go out there and play straight and the girls did that brilliantly.
“I think it was fantastic to see them win so convincingly. Danni (Wyatt) at the start was great, and then obviously Dunks (Dunkley) and Capsey finishing it off like that so confidently is brilliant for us going forward.
“It’s an unbelievable top three isn’t it and the form they’re in is brilliant, if we get off to a good start we can keep coming at teams and it’s great sitting down watching them do the work.”
Glenn: I just tried to bowl straight!
“I’m buzzing, I thought we did really well tonight as a unit both with the bat and ball and the crowd has been amazing as well,” said England spinner Glenn.
“It was difficult to grip the ball to be honest, I had to take my time between balls to make sure I was clear with what I was doing and I was just looking to go stump to stump and I knew on that wicket despite length I knew if I was hitting the stumps I’d be in the game and I think that was the same for all our other bowlers.
“Obviously I knew the conditions out there, but with our batters I knew if we just played our game we’d be fine and obviously they did that really well.
“Danni and Dunks set it up really nicely and then Caps came in to play her game freely, I thought they were brilliant.”
England face India in the second IT20 at Derby’s County Ground on Tuesday, September 13.
