England Women got their summer off to a brilliant start at Leicester, hitting their highest one-day international total against West Indies – 318 for nine – before bowling them out for 110 to finish with a 208-run win.
The victory was set up by Amy Jones, the player of the match, who hit 91, her highest home ODI score. “Since last summer my confidence has carried on increasing,” she said. “I’m really enjoying putting in consistent performances and hopefully I can carry on throughout the summer. Home series always feel that extra bit special, I’ve got family here and it’s nice to do it in front of a home crowd.”
Jones and Tammy Beaumont laid the foundations early on, the pair racking up England’s sixth 50-plus opening stand in the side’s past 12 ODIs. Along the way Beaumont brought up her 2,000th ODI run in fitting fashion, hammering Shamilia Connell through midwicket for four.
Beaumont went for 32, caught in the deep, advancing down the pitch to Hayley Matthews; five balls later Sarah Taylor was also heading back to the pavilion, chipping the ball straight to midwicket to continue her difficult run of form. For years Jones was no more than Taylor’s understudy; here, though, it was her time to shine, alongside the captain, Heather Knight, who hit 94.
“We were under a little bit of pressure at the start after the two wickets but she came out and played her shots and she was brilliant,” Jones said of her 146-run partnership with Knight. “It’s good fun batting with her – she always knows what to say and how to keep you focused.
“We’ve talked about hitting the ground running. It’s not been a strength of ours in previous series so I’m chuffed,” said Knight. “We want to keep improving as individuals and as a team and I think we’re doing that.”
For both the disappointment will be that they missed out on hundreds which were there for the taking – Jones holing out to mid-off nine runs short of a first century in international cricket. Knight’s dismissal was equally tame, top-edging a sweep to Connell at short fine-leg.
After a clatter of wickets, ending hopes of a mammoth England total, the No 11 Sophie Ecclestone finished things in style with a huge six over deep midwicket off the last ball of the innings.
In truth it was always going to be too many for a West Indies batting lineup which is much depleted by the absence of the opener Deandra Dottin. Matthews and Stafanie Taylor both went cheaply – Taylor the victim of a resurgent Kate Cross, who appears to have gained a yard of pace over the winter; Brunt’s fiery opening spell yielded two wickets in two balls.
Ecclestone and Laura Marsh then wrapped things up between them with three wickets apiece with England now having gone 1-0 up in the three-match series in decisive fashion.
