England's women level India ODI series as Sophie Ecclestone & Danielle Hazell star
- Published
Second ODI, Nagpur: |
India 113 (37.2 overs): Mandhana 42, Ecclestone 4-14, Hazell 4-32 |
England 117-2 (29 overs): Wyatt 47, Beaumont 39*, Knight 26* |
England won by eight wickets |
Teenage spinner Sophie Ecclestone starred again as England's women ripped through India in Nagpur to level their one-day international series at 1-1.
The slow left-armer, who took 4-37 in Friday's narrow defeat, finished with 4-14 from 10 overs, with five maidens.
Danielle Hazell, another of the four spinners used, took 4-32 as the hosts slumped from 80-4 to 113 all out.
Danni Wyatt's 47 helped England knock off their target in 29 overs. The third and final game is on Thursday.
Lancashire's Ecclestone, who turns 19 next month, burst onto the international scene in the summer of 2016 but missed last year's World Cup success because of her A-level commitments.
She returned to the national colours in the recent Women's Ashes series, featuring in all three formats, and kept her place while England have experimented on this tour of India - for which the ODIs do not count towards the ICC Women's Championship standings.
And Ecclestone played a key role, recording career-best international figures for the second time in four days as England's four-pronged spin attack sent down 27.2 of the 37.2 overs, capturing nine of the 10 wickets - with Ecclestone credited with a run-out for the other.
India's early collapse, with Smriti Mandhana (42) one of only three players to reach double figures, meant England had to bat for 10 overs before the scheduled interval, with Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont racing to 50-0 at the break.
Although the in-form Wyatt was stumped trying to hit spinner Ekta Bisht down the ground, and Amy Jones was bowled for a second successive duck, Beaumont (39 not out) and fit-again skipper Heather Knight (26 not out) saw them home with a full 21 overs to spare.
'She's really matured as a cricketer'
England captain Heather Knight, speaking to BBC Sport: "Sophie's always had the talent, but I think in the last six months she's really matured as a cricketer. She's learned to deal with the pressures of international cricket and she's really impressed me on this tour.
"She's quite a chilled girl, one that's partial to the odd practical joke - in her direction, not her doing it to anyone else - and it's really nice to see her doing well.
"It was a really good all-round performance, the bowlers set the tone. Dani Hazell really set the tone and then Sophie hardly bowled a bad ball."
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