England Women clinch ODI series in Laura Marsh’s 100th match

Heather Knight’s England team won the second ODI against West Indies at Worcester to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ODI series.

Intermittent rain affected the game’s momentum but 61 from Tammy Beaumont and some late power-hitting from Anya Shrubsole (32* from 16 balls) took England to 233-7 from their 41 overs.

That total was adjusted for DLS to leave West Indies needing 244 to win, but a brace of early wickets for Shrubsole and Kate Cross left the visitors with far too much to do.

Another
rain break ended the game as a spectacle but there was enough time for England
to win by 121 runs (DLS) and for Laura Marsh, making her 100th England appearance,
to pick up a celebratory wicket.

It means
England now have 22 points in the ICC Women’s Championship table, leaving them
all-but certain to qualify for the ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand in
2021. It also extends their winning run in all formats to 12 games.

England
will have the chance to seal a series whitewash and to make it 13 wins on
the bounce at Chelmsford on Thursday.

Heather Knight said: “It was a difficult day because of the weather but that provided a different kind of challenge and I was happy with how we responded to that.

“We
had to bat slightly differently to how we approached things at Leicester and
Tammy and Amy set a good platform at the top, it was hard to judge how hard to
go after the first rain break and Anya’s cameo with the bat was really
valuable.

“With
the ball I think we were impressive, especially Anya who bowled with good pace
in consistently threatening areas.

“There are still
areas for improvement but winning is a good habit to get into and we want to
keep working hard to maintain that.”