Easy win for India

By Steve Whiting

CHRISTCHURCH, NOV. 30. It is generally accepted that the battle for fourth place and so in the semifinals of the Cricinfo women's World Cup will be between India and South Africa - so it will not be hard to imagine the delight of captain Anju Jain when her team romped home by eight wickets.

The Indian wicket-keeper watched batting star Mithali Raj hit a match-winning 69 off 95 balls, with 11 boundaries to bear witness to her aggression, and said: ``this is exactly the sort of start we wanted. Now we can face the rest of the tournament with confidence.''

On Saturday, India will have a further chance to add to its happy feelings when it meets The Netherlands, which is probably the weakest team in the tournament and was beaten by 140 runs by England.

The foundation for India's win was laid by spinners, Purnima Rau and Rupanjili Shastri, who at one stage reduced South Africa to 62 for eight after seamer Renu Margrate had done the early damage after India elected to field.

The Indians eased up somewhat and allowed an unbroken ninth wicket stand of 66 between skipper Kim Price (19 not out) and Yolandi van der Merwe (42), who had a previous top score of two, to take the Springboks to 128 for eight in their 50 overs.

India had made it difficult for itself with some poor fielding and loose bowling, all brought on by the fact that it thought it had won already. At least that defiant stand made more of a game of it, but it was not going to be enough to stop the Indians from winning a match they had really set their hearts on.

Yet there was still a fright or two to come before India could rest easy. Lanky left-hand opener Anjum Chopra was bowled by van der Merwe with the score on 26 in the ninth over. But that was merely the signal for young Mithali Raj, playing in her first World Cup game even though she has a best one-day innings of 114 not out, to take command.

She showed her class with some well-timed drives and shared in two useful stands - for the second wicket with skipper Anju Jain and an unfinished one with Chandrakanta. Mithali was, needless to say, named player of the match and picked up the award of NZ$200 to go with it.

The scores:

South Africa 128 for eight (Yolandi van der Merwe 42, Renu Margrate two for 15, Purnima Rau three for 12, Rupanjili Shastri two for 27) lost to India 129 for two (Mithali Raj 69).

England 256 for three (Charlotte Edwards 139 not out, Barbara Daniels 79) bt The Netherlands 116 for nine (Maartje Kaster 27, Sarah Collyer five for 32).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Sinclair stands firm
Next     : Rampant Kangaroos go for a world record