England's World Cup preparations concluded with a five-run warm-up victory against India in Cardiff. Nat Sciver-Brunt returned with a half-century, and Amy Jones also impressed with the bat. Alice Capsey's wicketkeeping performance provided reassurance.
1st ODI: England, 211-9, bt New Zealand, 210, by 1 wktCaptain guides long tail to low targetAfter all the hype about England’s biggest summer, it got off to an underwhelming start at Chester-le-Street on Sunday, as they limped to a one-wicket win in the first one-day international against New Zealand, chasing just 211. Only a calm rearguard effort from the stand-in captain, Charlie Dean, who finished unbeaten on 31 and valiantly marshalled England’s long tail, enabled them to crawl across the line.England played exactly the way you might expect from a team who have gone 194 days without playing an international match (their last outing was the World Cup semi-final in October). First, they made a spate of fielding errors, costing them precious runs in a low-scoring thriller. Then they subsided to 149 for six, after Emma Lamb, Amy Jones and Dani Gibson all holed out to gleeful fielders. Continue reading...
