Sciver And Shrubsole Lead England To Victory

Credit: ECB

Sciver And Shrubsole Lead England To Victory


Three wickets for Anya Shrubsole and a half-century for Nat Sciver guided England Women to a four-wicket win over India in their third game of the Commbank IT20 Tri-Series.

Shrubsole - back into the side after missing the last game through an injury to her foot - led a disciplined bowling effort that pegged India back after a quick start and saw them finish on 123/6.

In reply, England lost three early wickets but Sciver was assured throughout, combining initially with captain Heather Knight and then putting on 49 with Fran Wilson to break the back of the chase.

Sciver will be disappointed to have been dismissed with the finish line in sight but it was a mature and reassuring innings from the all-rounder.

She had earlier gone at just 5.50 from her two overs, with Knight also exploiting the slow surface to race through three overs for just 10 runs. But it was Shrubsole who was awarded the Player of the Match award for dismissing Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur and Taniya Bhatia.

England will face Australia in the final game of the Tri-Series group stage on Sunday, with the start time having been moved to 11.40am (00.40GMT) to accommodate the Bushfire Cricket Bash.

QUOTES

Nat Sciver: "We bowled well to keep them to 120-odd and I'm happy to have stayed out there and got us towards the win. I didn't feel great throughout my innings and I would have liked to have been there at the end but it was a good win.

"We had to utilise the conditions, both us and Australia had used the short ball against India in Canberra but today's track was slow so there were a lot of cutters and pace-off options.

"It's good to win and we can take confidence from this going into the World Cup. Lisa's been great since she's come in, her and Tim Macdonald. We're trying to take a bit more ownership as players and it all feels happy and relaxed at the moment, hopefully we can keep that going and keep improving."