England beat India by four wickets in Mount Maunganui to pick up their first win of the 2022 Women's World Cup and keep their semi-final hopes alive
England have kept their slim hopes of retaining their World Cup crown alive after defeating India by four wickets in Mount Maunganui.
Charlie Dean starred with the ball, picking up career-best figures of 4 for 23 as India were bowled out for just 134. And despite a shaky start with the bat which saw Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont fall inside three overs, an unbeaten half-century from Heather Knight helped seal a valuable two points with 112 balls to spare.
However, bowler Anya Shrubsole has admitted the side were not concerned with net run rate or the mathematics of semi-final qualification during their chase, but simply getting over the line and showing their true colours.
"There was no discussion at all about how quickly we wanted to chase it down," she said. "We’ve obviously lost the first three games, so it’s all about getting over the line. That run rate you think about further down the line, but ultimately, if we’d lost this game, then we were probably out of the tournament.
"We’re motivated by wanting to put some things right and things we haven’t achieved in this tournament so far. We obviously wanted to come out here and win, that’s how we approach every single game.
"It’s about us wanting to give a true reflection of ourselves as a team, which we feel like we haven’t done at times throughout this tournament, and I feel like we did more so today."
Charlie Dean picked up career-best ODI figures of 4 for 23 [Hannah Peters/Getty Images]
One area where there was a stark improvement was in the field, with Sophia Dunkley taking a nerve-settling catch inside the opening six overs to dismiss Mithali Raj and Kate Cross and Nat Sciver nailing direct run-outs to dismiss Deepti Sharma and Richa Ghosh, respectively. And Shrubsole is confident the errors which plagued their earlier defeats are now behind England.
"The catch that Dunk [Sophia Dunkley] took pretty early on in the game, I think really set us on our way and it’s just about coming into each game and trying to be really positive and take the positive option," she said. "Almost fake confidence until you feel it but I think that was much closer to what we’re like as a fielding unit.
"We haven’t shied away from the fact that we’ve been really poor in the field in the first three games, the last two in particular, and it’s potentially cost us some wins. It was really nice to put some of that right today and hopefully it’s a step in the right direction."
As for Charlie Dean, playing in just her second World Cup match, Shrubsole believes the youngster is the future of England's bowling: "I’m buzzing for Charlie. This is obviously her first World Cup and to come and bowl as well as she did in a really high pressure game – two wickets in her first over – I’m over the moon for Deano.
"She’s someone who’s really popular amongst this group, a seriously talented cricketer and hopefully she is going to be taking wickets in World Cups for England for year to come."
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