Fields shines in Australia win

Australia Women 227 for 8 (Fields 64*, Lanning 45, Dhar 4-53) beat India Women 197 for 8 (Kaur 57, Sthalekar 2-25) by 30 runs
Scorecard

A run-a-ball 64 from Jodie Fields was followed up by a tight bowling performance to give Australia Women victory in the first ODI on their tour of India. The visitors chose to bat and got off to a bright start thanks to a steady 41 from Rachael Haynes and a brisk 45 from Meg Lanning. India Women did well to pull things back but Fields ensured the runs kept ticking over even as wickets fell at the other end.

Rumeli Dhar chipped away at the middle order, and finished with four wickets, but Fields stayed till the end of the 50 overs and ensured Australia took more than 60 runs off the last 10 to finish with 227 for 8.

India started their chase cautiously, with both openers striking at under 60 in their innings and captain Anjum Chopra taking 36 balls to score 17. The pressure built and a flurry of wickets followed, causing India to slip from 72 for 1 to 108 for 6. Harmanpreet Kaur battled, and scored 57 off 64 balls. She was supported by Jhulan Goswami, who got 33, but the slow-scoring in the first 30 overs, and the loss of wickets in the middle overs, meant India could not get near the total.

Lisa Sthalekar was Australia's best bowler, dismissing two of the top three and giving away just 25 runs in her 10 overs. Opening bowlers Julie Hunter and Ellyse Perry were also economical, each going at 3.60 an over in their 10, and took three wickets between them.