India crush dismal England

India 51 for 0 beat England 50 (Goswami 5-16) by ten wickets
Scorecard

Jhulan Goswami: her 5 for 16 put the skids under England © Touchline

England were skittled for 50, their lowest one-day total, as India humbled them by 10 wickets to take an unbeatable 3-1 lead in the series. In bowler-friendly conditions at Silchar, England had no answer to Jhulan Goswami, who tore through the line-up with a career-best 5 for 16 as only Jenny Gunn reached double figures. Despite England's difficulties with the conditions India had no problems knocking off the runs, reaching their target in under 15 overs.

The day started badly for England - who only had 11 fit players - when Charlotte Edwards lost the toss and it never threatened to get any better. Edwards was the first to fall, in slightly unfortunate circumstances as the ball bounced off her arm on to the stumps; the innings then became a procession. When Beth Morgan was bowled by Goswani, England were 18 for 6 and the scoreboard resembled an international phone number.

Gunn and extras at least reached double figures, with Gunn managing the sole boundary in the innings, but a recovery was never on the cards. Goswami completed her ten-over spell - claiming Nicky Shaw as her fifth victim - before Neetu David chipped with a couple to hurry the innings to its conclusion. The England attack could not even manage a consolation wicket as Karu Jain and Jaya Sharma picked off the runs with ease.

Edwards, England's stand-in captain, spoke to Cricinfo and was clear about where the match started to go wrong: "From about 8.30 when I lost the toss. The conditions we pretty difficult and they bowled very well."

The matches have been starting early because of fading evening light, making batting tricky first up. "That does mean that there has been a lot of dew around which has made batting difficult," explained Edwards. "But credit to their bowlers who were very good. Goswani is an excellent opening bowler and she produced a brilliant spell. She put the ball in the right place and found plenty of help from the pitch."

And Edwards was quick to defend her team over the batting collapse. "It was nothing to do with out strokeplay. We have just talked about it between ourselves and said that we could not have done much about it. It isn't as though we went out their and swung across the line, we just came up against quality bowling, in conditions that were seaming around, and the luck didn't go our way."

After winning the opening match of the series England are now out of the contest with one game remaining, but Edwards is adamant that the tour has been a great learning experience. "A lot of the team are on their first trips to India - I'm on my second and am still learning - and they have all really enjoyed themselves. We have just let ourselves down in the last couple of matches."