India waltz past England to take lead in ODI series

The home side's total always appeared well short, and that prediction was proven right with Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur guiding the tourists to victory

Hove: England 227-7, India 232-3 - India win by seven wickets

Scorecard

India eased to victory over England in the first ODI of the series, chasing down a mediocre target of 228 with a minimum of fuss to win by seven wickets.

The tourists dominated proceedings from the start and hardly let their hosts back in, with Harmanpreet Kaur finishing unbeaten on 74 after Smriti Mandhana (91) and Yastika Bhatia (50) had set up a straightforward win.

Their superiority was clear from the moment that Harmanpreet Kaur won the toss and elected to bowl. Jhulan Goswami, returning to the side and playing the first ODI of her distinguished career without Mithali Raj, conceded just 20 runs in her 10 overs and was ably supported by a spin-heavy attack that stifled England on a slow, used surface at Hove.

Emma Lamb was bounced out by Meghna Singh and Tammy Beaumont was somewhat inevitably trapped in front by Goswami inside the powerplay, before Alice Capsey – on ODI debut – and Sophia Dunkley both chipped catches off the spin of Sneh Rana and Harleen Deol to ring-fielders once set.

The loss of wickets when players were well set was a theme of the innings; Amy Jones, the stand-in captain, was unfortunate to be bowled by a ball from Rajeshwari Gayakwad that shot along the floor, before Danni Wyatt – who made 43 – missed an attempted slog-sweep against Deepti Sharma.

^{India won comfortably at Hove (Christopher Lee/Getty Images)}

England were 128 for 6 at that stage, and it was testament to the depth of talent among the home side's batters that they eased to a final total of 227 for 7.

Alice Davidson-Richards hit her maiden ODI fifty from No.7, accompanied by Sophie Ecclestone's 31 and Charlie Dean's unbeaten 24.

But that total always appeared well short, and so it proved. Despite the early wicket of Shafali Verma, chipping to midwicket off Kate Cross, India faced few alarms thereafter.

Yastika Bhatia took any early pressure off Mandhana by striking a half century off just 45 balls to break the back of the chase.

When Bhatia was bowled by Dean, Mandhana took up the mantle, caressing the ball to all corners en route to 91. She was caught at mid-on, but India's triumph was secure by then. Kaur added the finishing touches, hitting Davidson-Richards for six to end proceedings.