India crush England in first-ever women's Test at Lord's

LONDON: Sneh Rana's four-wicket haul in the second innings helped India comfortably defend the 457-run target and beat England by 270 runs on the fourth day of the first-ever women's Test here at Lord's on Monday.

The decisive penultimate day of the historic fixture got underway with England resuming the daunting 457-run pursuit from 130/6 through Amy Jones and Sophie Ecclestone.

England, however, could add just 56 more to their overnight score despite Ecclestone's half-century and consequently succumbed to a heavy defeat in the solitary fixture.

The hosts were rocked by a massive setback in just the third over of the day when Rana got rid of set batter Jones, who remained England's top-scorer with a gutsy 54 off 80 deliveries with the help of six fours.

Following Jones's departure, Ecclestone took charge of England's pursuit and put together one-sided partnerships with lower-order batters, Issy Wong (one), Lauren Bell (zero) and Lauren Filler (four not out), respectively, until eventually being cleaned up by Rana briefly after amassing her maiden half-century.

Ecclestone returned after scoring 50 off 66 deliveries, laced with six fours.

Rana was the standout bowler for India as she bagged four wickets for 42 runs in 19.2 overs, while Deepti Sharma, Kranti Gaud and Sayali Satghare chipped in with two scalps each.

The historic fixture got underway on Friday when England captain Nat Sciver-Brunt won the toss and put India into bat first – a decision that backfired as half-centuries from Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur led India to a formidable total of 285 all out despite Ecclestone's five-wicket haul.

In turn, England could muster 170 all out despite Jones's half-century and consequently succumbed to a 115-run deficit as Gaud led India's spirited bowling charge with a five-wicket haul, which she backed with two more scalps in the second innings and was thus adjudged the Player of the Match.

Later, wicketkeeper batter Yastika Bhatia's maiden Test century put India in firm control as they posted 341/7 declared in their second innings and set a mammoth target for England.