England women 6 for 124 (Sciver 50, Gayakwad 3-23) beat India women 6 for 123 (Mandhana 45, Shrubsole 3-31) by four wickets
England put themselves in a strong position to reach the tri-series final with a four-wicket victory over India at Melbourne's Junction Oval as Natalie Sciver starred with the bat to follow Anya Shrubsole's three wickets.
After some promising signs in the Powerplay, India could never really gather the required momentum for the rest of their innings as Shrubsole claimed their key pair of Jemimah Rodrigues and Harmanpreet Kaur.
England's chase did not get off to a smooth start and they were in some trouble at 3 for 28 in the sixth over and when the in-form Heather Knight departed for 18, India were still well in the match. However, Sciver and Fran Wilson added 49 for the fifth wicket to all but seal the win although the finish was a little messy.
Mandhana gets going
Smriti Mandhana made her presence felt early on when she slog-swept the first ball of the second over from Sophie Ecclestone for six, and then followed it with another boundary. She dominated the early scoring and at the end of the fourth over was on 25 off 18 balls. She lost Shafali Verma two balls before the fielding restrictions finished and then started to find scoring tough as England built pressure. She was given a life on 37 when Danni Wyatt spilled a tough chance before falling to a superb leg-side take from Amy Jones in the tenth over.
England's senior quicks to the fore
Katherine Brunt conceded her most expensive T20I figures against Australia in Canberra while Shrubsole missed the match with a foot problem. Both were excellent here as they took combined figures of 5 for 54 off their eight overs as the second half of India's innings fell away. Rodrigues fell to a sharp stumping from Jones and Veda Krishnamurthy gave a return catch to Brunt the ball after she had spilled a very tough chance. India managed just two boundaries in the last eight overs of their innings, the total only pushed as far as 123 when Shrubsole's figures were dented somewhat with the final over going for 15.
India fight back
India have fought hard in the field all through, and they hauled themselves back into the contest during England's Powerplay. Jones' lean time with the bat continued when she picked out midwicket in the first over as Rajeshwari Gayakwad continued her promising form, Wyatt was caught at backward point and Brunt, promoted up the order, was run-out backing up when a drive from Sciver deflected off Deepti Sharma's wrist. The Powerplay comparison was: England 3 for 39, India 1 for 39.
Sciver stands up
England's batting in the first two matches largely revolved around Knight, but on this occasion she fell for 18, meaning someone else needed to guide the innings. Sciver, with the solid support of Wilson, produced a very measured innings, collected boundaries frequently enough to ensure the asking rate didn't balloon too far over a run-a-ball. India's last chance of victory came and went with an umpiring error when Sciver was given a life on 39 as her attempted scoop came off the face of the bat to the keeper. Shikha Pandey could not believe the decision. Two balls later, Sciver played the shot again and it went for four. She couldn't quite see the chase to the end, giving Gayakwad her third wicket, and it was a lurch to the line as Tammy Beaumont was run-out and Lauren Winfield was dropped at mid-off from the shot that brought the winning runs.
