India start on winning note, beat England by 18 runs

Chennai, Feb 21 (UNI) Indian women started their campaign on a winning note defeating England by 18 runs in the opening match of the Quandrangular series here today.

Set a target of 232 to win England women collapsed from 117 for two in 30.1 overs to be bowled out for 213 in 48 overs.

Openers Atkins (54, 99 balls, 5x4) and Newton (21, 33 balls, 3x4) gave a good while. S J Taylor (26) and Edwards (33) consolidated the position before the visitors lost their way.

India pocketed four points the win.

Put into bat, Indian eves got off to a great start before they floundered the advantage and were restricted to a moderate score of 231.

Woman-of-the-match K V Jain (77, 119 balls, 5x4) and J Sharma (61, 91 balls, 4x4, 1x6) added 121 for the opening wicket in 30 overs to put the innings on a firm footing.

Jain added a further 58 runs in 10.1 overs with skipper Mithali Raj (35, 47 balls, 3x4) before the home team lost wickets in the final ten overs.

For England I T Guha bagged two wickets, while B L Morgan and L K Newton claimed one wicket each.

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