India v England, Women's Quadrangular, Chennai

Sharma stars in Indian win

The Bulletin by Nishi Narayanan in Chennai

February 21, 2007

Jaya Sharma: a classy 61 © Getty Images

"The bowling was ok," Sharma told Cricinfo. "We decided to see off the shine and slowly build our innings. We decided to take three or four in the first few overs." Sharma had no problem reading the line of the spinners, Holly Colvin and Laura Newton, and often stepped out of the crease and played her shots through both sides of the wicket. Most of her strokes were attractive and played through the line, and it was a disappointing way to go when she was run out in the 30th over.

Once the batsmen were done, it was the bowlers who had to prove if 231 was defendable. Jhulan Goswami had a slow first spell but her fiery second one was what clinched the victory for India. An excited Goswami said that the two spells demanded different strategies.

"The first spell is very important in one-day cricket. I tried not to give away too many runs," said Goswami. "But the second spell is different. You need one or two good overs and that is what I focused on." The wicket was flat and good for batting, and Goswami added that it was all about concentrating on the basics of line and length.

England though did come out with some positives from the game - Sarah Taylor to name but one. Taylor, 17, was picked ahead of Jane Smit as the England keeper and had a good day being involved in a run-out and two stumpings.

"I actually dropped [Jaya] Sharma in the beginning but it was a good day otherwise for me," Taylor said. "I have been working on my keeping all winter and it's paying off now. The tour is quite exciting and I'm looking forward to the rest of the matches."

Charlotte Edwards, the England captain, was also happy with Taylor's performance. She wasn't too disappointed by the team's performance either, especially Isa Guha's figures of 2 for 49, which included a second spell of 6-0-23-2. "Isa came back superbly," Edwards said. "We began slow but we fought back well in the end, I think. Somewhere along, we made a hash of things though."

India's next opponents are Australia, while England meet New Zealand, both on February 23.

© Cricinfo

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Matches

India Women v England Women at Chennai

Players/Umpires

Jaya Sharma

Sarah Taylor

Series/Tournaments

Women's Quadrangular Series

Teams

England Women

India Women