Thanks to a superb partnership between Sophie Dunkley and Katherine Brunt, England women sealed the series in the 2^nd ODI played at Taunton on Wednesday. 

England captain Heather Knight won the toss and decided to field first. It was a steady start by the Indian openers as Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana played with intent putting England bowlers under pressure. Shafali was dropped by Winfield at mid-off. After the initial spell by Shurbsole and Brunt, Knight bought Ecclestone into the attack. At the end of the first 10 overs, Indian openers put 48 runs.

Kate Cross got the opening breakthrough for England getting rid of Smriti Mandhana taking the inside edge onto stumps. Mandhana and Verma put on 56 runs laying a strong foundation for a big total. Jemimah Rodrigues coming into playing XI, looked in decent touch before playing across the line providing an easy catch to Brunt. Soon after, Shafali Verma’s superb innings came to an end as she was stumped by Amy Jones coming down the track to leave Indian women in some trouble.

The Indian captain Mithali Raj and Harmanpreet Kaur steadied the ship for Indian women taking singles and hitting boundaries, especially on Sarah Glenn’s bowling. After the drinks break, Kaur played a rash stroke providing a simple return catch to Cross. Raj and Kaur added 68 runs for the 4^th wicket. England bowlers kept on taking wickets at regular intervals while Mithali Raj remained steady reaching her second successive fifty off 80 balls.

Deepti Sharma, Sneha Rana, Taniya Bhatia, Shikha Pandey all went in quick succession. Raj was peppered with short balls but showed great courage. The Indian captain Raj was run out trying to take the third run. Jhulan Goswami smashed 3 boundaries off Katherine Brunt’s bowling while Poonam Yadav contributed valuable runs. Goswami and Poonam added 29 runs for the final wicket as Poonam was bowled off the last ball. From 145 for 3, the Indian women’s team lost wickets at regular intervals to dismissed for 221.

Chasing 222 runs to win, after some lovely boundaries by England openers, Jhulan Goswami produced a peach getting rid of Beaumont. Shikha Pandey and Goswami kept the pressure on England batters. At the end of the first 10 overs, England women ended at 37 for 1.

Winfield put Poonam Yadav on the backfoot with lovely strokes. Poonam Yadav fought back strongly to dismiss England captain Heather Knight providing an easy catch to Goswami. Knight and Winfield added 32 runs for the 2^nd wicket. Nat Sciver and Winfield steadied the ship for the hosts taking singles and hitting boundaries. Shikha Pandey did not disappoint as she dismissed Winfield with a sharp catch by Taniya Bhatia. Winfield and Nat Sciver added 34 runs for the 3^rd wicket. 

Harmanpreet Kaur took a diving catch at mid-off off Nat Sciver in the same over but was deemed not out via the third umpire. Taniya Bhatia took another superb catch to dismiss Nat Sciver to leave England women in some trouble at 92 for 4. Amy Jones and Sophia Dunkley put Indian bowlers under pressure with attacking strokes keeping the scoreboard ticking easily. Poonam Yadav got the breakthrough getting the wicket of Amy Jones trying to hit a big shot as substitute Radha Yadav took a catch. Amy Jones and Dunkley added 41 runs for the 5^th wicket.

Katherine Brunt struggled initially but Dunkley remained steady hitting boundaries and keeping the scoreboard ticking. Dunkley showed her intent against Indian spinners reaching her fifty off 62 balls. Brunt gave good support to Dunkley to ensure England reach the target with ease. Dunkley and Brunt added unbeaten 92 runs for the 6^th wicket.

England women 225 for 5 in 47.3 overs (Sophia Dunkley 73*, Winfield 42, Poonam Yadav 2/63, Goswami 1/39) beat Indian women 221 in 50 overs ( Mithali Raj 59, Verma 44, Kate Cross 5/34, Ecclestone 5/34) by 5 wickets.

With this win, England women sealed the 3 match ODI series 2-0 and gained a 6-2 lead in multi-points system. The final ODI will be played on 3^rd July at Worcester.