When England women played Sri Lanka women yesterday, the County Ground was bathed in sunshine (unlike Thursday, when Indian Women played West Indies women, and it was so cold that I asked a woman knitting nearby if she could knit me a blanket). Sri Lanka batted first, and never got over a slow start and the regular loss of wickets. Chamari Athapaththu, who had got 178 a few days earlier, was out for just a single. The rest of the batters played straight, like illustrations from the coaching manual, but no one dominated the bowling… or even tried. Sri Lanka struggled to a total of 204. England bowled well, though Anya Shrubsole had to watch at least three simple catches being dropped off her bowling. The best catch of the day was by Fran Wilson, in the gully, who clung on to a fierce back-footed drive (otherwise it would have been a four).
England batted well, and were always ahead of the required run rate. Heather Knight and Sarah Taylor knocked off most of the runs between them, and, towards the end, were hitting boundaries to all parts of the ground. So it wasn’t an exciting finish (which has traditionally been the rationale for the 50-over game). However, it was good to see England playing well. They’re playing South Africa mid-week and I’ll catch up with them again in Bristol, a ground I’ve never visited before, for next Sunday’s game against the unbeaten Australian women…
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