Watch: Kate Cross bowled a beauty of a delivery to send Shafali Verma‘s off stump cartwheeling out of the ground on day one of the Test match in Navi Mumbai.
India lost Smriti Mandhana in the first hour after opting to bat first at the DY Patil Stadium. Debutant Shasheesh Shubha Verma also joined the match after beating Lauren Bell to dismiss the home team 25-1.
However, after Verma Bell hit two fours in the morning’s eighth over, Cross made England’s second breakthrough in fine style in the next over. Cross threw the ball over the wicket with his right arm and hit the ball just outside the off-stump with enough length that the ball rose slightly above the water. It snaked through Velma’s outer edge and into her stump, ripping it from the ground and throwing it behind her.
This wicket gave India a lead of 47-2 in less than 10 overs, with second debutant Jemima Rodriguez joining Shubha in the middle.
India also named fast bowler Renuka Thakur as the third debutant in the starting XI, earning her first Test cap. The match will be the first women’s Test match hosted by India since 2014 and the first time since 2005 that the two teams will meet on Indian soil. It is also her 100th women’s Test match for England.
England named two spinners in their starting XI despite Kirsty Gordon’s late call-up. Alice Capsey also failed to break into the starting eleven.
Watch: Kate Cross bowls Shafali Verma with a ripper
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