Cricket story by Boris Webb, Sun, 11 Dec 2005 01:04:00 GMT


KOLKATA, India - The England women's tour of India ended miserably when they were beaten by 38 runs in the fifth and the final one-day international at the Eden Gardens here today.

The hosts had already sealed the series in the previous match as the English women were bowled out for 50. Today the story was a bit different though. India began nicely with a 139-run opening stand between Karuna Jain and Jaya Sharma, Jain cracked her maiden century and was finally dismissed at 103 off 147 balls.

Her century laid a fine platform for India's eventual total of 243 for 4 from their 50 overs. For the visitors, Jenny Gunn starred with the ball giving away just 23 runs off 10 overs, but the bowlers struggled in face of an Indian onslaught towards the end. Arshat Rawat with 31 and Anjum Chopra who was unbeaten on 26 were the ones responsible for taking India past the 220-run mark.

England began their chase disastrously slumping to 26 for 4 in no time before Arran Brindle, who hit a stroke filled 52, and Lydia Greenway with 40 rescued them with a partnership of 89 runs. Indian Jhulan Goswami, who has been right on the spot in the whole series once again made life tough for the English women and almost all of them found her difficult to get away. Goswami also picked up the wicket of Claire Taylor for nine.

Taylor has had a forgettable tour and has made only 44 runs in the eight innings including that of the one-off test. England needed 65 runs in the last 10 overs and it looked like they were going to get a consolation win, but when Morgan was run out for 22, the game was back in India's favor.

Karuna Jain was the befitting `eve of the match.' She also won the 'player of the series' award along with Jhulan Goswami.

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