London, July 11 (IANS) India tightened their hold on the one-off women’s Test at Lord’s by moving to 30 without loss at tea on Day 2, extending their overall lead to 145 runs after Kranti Gaud’s superb five-wicket haul had earlier dismissed England for 170 and secured a valuable 115-run first-innings advantage for the visitors.

Having wrapped up England’s innings shortly after lunch, India were left with the task of negotiating a potentially tricky period against the new ball. England’s pace attack, which had struggled for consistency in the first innings, began with far better discipline this time. Lauren Bell and Lauren Filer bowled probing spells with two slips and a gully in place, extracting enough movement to test both openers.

Bell set the tone by delivering a maiden over to Smriti Mandhana, repeatedly drawing the left-hander into cautious defence. Filer also found seam movement and bounce, beating the bat on occasions, while wicketkeeper Amy Jones’ fumble behind the stumps gifted India their first run through byes. Despite the early pressure, neither Mandhana nor Shafali Verma looked flustered, trusting their defence before waiting for scoring opportunities.

Mandhana was the first to break the shackles. After patiently leaving deliveries outside off and seeing off the new-ball threat, she capitalised on anything fractionally short from Filer. Two authoritative pull shots, both dispatched to the square-leg boundary, brought her innings to life and eased the pressure that England had built during the opening exchanges.

At the other end, Shafali also settled in after a cautious beginning. She opened her account with a tuck behind square before producing a beautifully timed late drive through the covers off Bell for her first boundary. Her positive intent became even more evident when Sophie Ecclestone was introduced into the attack.

Facing England’s premier spinner for the first time in the innings, Shafali wasted little time asserting herself. She lofted Ecclestone confidently down the ground for four before following it up with a delightful inside-out drive through extra cover that showcased both confidence and timing. Ecclestone’s over also included a wayward delivery down the leg side that raced away for four byes, making it an expensive start for the left-arm spinner as India collected 13 runs from the over.

The fluent strokeplay from both openers ensured India entered the tea break without suffering a setback, frustrating England’s hopes of making immediate inroads after their batting collapse. With the pitch still playing well for batting and both openers looking increasingly comfortable, India are firmly in command and will look to bat England out of the contest in the final session and beyond.

Brief scores:

India 285 & 30/0 (Smriti Mandhana 10*, Shafali Verma 14*) lead England 170 all out in 59.1 overs (Amy Jones 52, Nat Sciver-Brunt 44; Kranti Gaud 5/37, Sayali Satghare 2/40, Sneh Rana 2/41, Deepti Sharma 1/10) by 145 runs.

–IANS

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