London, July 12 (IANS) With India in a dominant position in the historic one-off women’s Test against England at Lord’s, former cricketer Tash Farrant believes that the visitors are ‘well on top’ of the hosts and possess the firepower to completely bat them out of the game.
After skittling out England for a paltry 170 and gain a 115-run lead, India capitalised on excellent batting conditions to reach 154/1 in their second essay at stumps on day two. Vice-captain Smriti Mandhana led the charge with a classy, unbeaten 69, while Yastika Bhatia hit 39 not out.
“India are well on top and I think they can bat England out of the game. They just need to work out, if they are able to get a partnership going this morning, how much time they need to bowl England out. This pitch is a little bit low and slow, although when India are batting it looks like a different pitch.
“India are well and truly in the driving seat and have players that like to bat time, so England need to show some fight. Maybe that retirement announcement from Knight might just pick them up a little bit and give them an extra boost,” said Tash on the broadcast ahead of day three’s play.
With the odds heavily stacked against England, who would need to pull off the highest successful run chase in the history of women’s Test cricket to secure an improbable victory, ex-cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent called on the team to play for pride.
“England will be disappointed – they’re going to have to find something. The thing about Test cricket is the draw is available. That means you need to fight for two days, get back in with wickets and see if you can get back into the game with the bat. Right now, I’m not saying ‘get out there and win’, but I think there’s pride and professionalism that works towards at least a draw from here.”
–IANS
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