India cruise past England to clinch T20 series win
India clinched an historic T20 series victory over England with a game to spare courtesy of a comfortable six-wicket victory at Old Trafford.After restricting the home side to 126-7 in the fourth T20, the tourists had taken a sizeable chunk out of their target by the end of the powerplay.Openers Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma relentlessly took the attack to the England bowlers in a stand of 56 and while the run-rate slowed after they departed, India remained in control.Captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues soaked up the pressure for a brief spell but, once settled, they kicked for home.After Harmanpreet was dismissed, it was left to Rodrigues to hit the winning runs in the 17th over and secure India's first women's T20 series win in England.Earlier, England had stuttered throughout their innings, going nine overs without a boundary from the end of the 10th over, and with a top score of 22 from Sophia Dunkley they were never likely to post a competitive total.Spin again proved their downfall with two wickets apiece for left-armers Radha Yadav and Shree Charani.With India holding an unassailable 3-1 lead going into the fifth T20 at Edgbaston on Saturday, Charlotte Edwards' side will already be looking at ways to better combat the spinners in the one-day international series that follows.
India discipline stops any England momentum
England stuck with a winning formula as they opted to bat first, as they did in the third T20, but while that triumph at The Oval was set up by a fantastic opening stand, there was no repeat in Manchester.Danni Wyatt-Hodge holed out off Shree Charani for her third single-digit score of the series before Dunkley skewed Deepti Sharma to point where Yadav took a fine diving catch.It was typical of India's efforts in the field and with wickets falling consistently throughout the innings, England found themselves in a perpetual rebuild.A partnership of 35 between Tammy Beaumont and Alice Capsey was the largest of the innings but Radha broke that and sent the stand-in skipper on her way with a few words and long stare.That wicket came two balls after what proved to be England's last boundary until the end of the 19th over as India's spinners bowled with impressive discipline and challenged the home batters to take them on.What followed was a less than ideal combination of very few runs and regular wickets - 5-58 in the last 10 overs, to be exact.Sophie Ecclestone, on her 100th T20 international appearance, and Issy Wong each hit sixes in the last over to boost England's total but it always looked short.
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The outcome will likely come down to who manages the occasion was pretty nervous in her quarter-final win against Anastasia Pavyluchenkova, to the point where she kept dropping to the floor on her haunches in the last couple of games - even when it wasn't match was an illustration of the feeling of desperation she was facing as she edged closer to saw similar reactions a few times early on in the semi-final against Aryna Sabalenka too but she managed to settle more as the match went having won majors and having been the world number one for such a long time, has the edge in terms of experience - that absolutely counts for a Anisimova has nothing to lose. Of course she is desperate to win the Wimbledon final, but at the start of the fortnight she would never have thought she would actually be here in the championship can close her eyes in the final and have a swing - which fits best into what she does. This circumstances allows her to be more she can go out there and play freely, whereas I think Swiatek might feel extra has never won the singles title here, she's the higher ranked and many people will expect her to lift the trophy.I think being the underdog favours Anisimova and it fits in well with her aggressive game style. Settling down quickly Swiatek and Anisimova are only three months apart in age but they are yet to play each other at tour will still know each other very well, though. 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