Spinners wrap up whopping 270-run win for India

It took India a little over an hour and a half on the final day to wrap up a resounding 270-run win in the one-off Test at Lord's, registering their second biggest Test win by runs in the process. England added 56 runs to their overnight score of 130/6, going down comprehensively in the end as India extended their unblemished Test record on English shores.

A target of 457 was always going to be a daunting one for England and the writing was on the wall on the third evening once they were reduced to 59/5. Harmanpreet Kaur began with spin at one end on Day 4 and continued to remain on the attack, deploying catchers around the bat, including two short leg fielders at seamer Sayali Satghare's end. Sophie Ecclestone hammered a Sneh Rana delivery into Richa Ghosh's shins at silly point, where Ghosh plucked a stunner to dismiss Mady Villiers on the third evening. But shortly after, Amy Jones hammered a short delivery that kept low to mid-wicket after adding just two runs to her overnight score of 52.

Kranti Gaud, the pick of the bowlers in the Test, was denied an opportunity to add to her tally of wickets as Ecclestone was dropped twice - first by Rana at second slip and later by wicketkeeper Yastika Bhatia diving one-handed to her right. Ecclestone pinched a few boundaries, driving the ball regularly to delay the inevitable, with Issy Wong blocking away at the other end as she took 23 deliveries to get off the mark.

Wong's 33-ball vigil came to a close as she was bowled by Deepti Sharma having played down the wrong line. The offie then produced a ripper to clean up Lauren Bell at the stroke of the drinks break to leave England nine down. Ecclestone soon registered her highest Test score, hammering a Shree Charani drag-down to the boundary. She also ran four off a Deepti delivery, the ball stopping well short of the ropes. She was adjudged LBW on the sweep before having it overturned on the review as UltraEdge threw up a spike and was happy to trust Lauren Filer with the strike.

Ecclestone reached her half-century with Filer hanging in at the other end before she hammered one through mid-on for a boundary. But the Indian players never looked fazed, with Rana eventually landing the killer blow with a sharp turning delivery that disturbed Ecclestone's stumps.

The victory marked India's fourth against England in women's Tests - their most against a single opponent. It was also their third on English soil in ten Tests, with the remaining seven ending in draws. The win was set up by a collective all-round display throughout the course of the Test match, with Bhatia's second innings hundred, Gaud's first innings five-for and Smriti Mandhana's twin fifties underlining their dominance.

Brief Scores: India Women 285 (Smriti Mandhana 83, Harmanpreet Kaur 58; Sophie Ecclestone 3-68) & 341/7 decl. (Yastika Bhatia 113, Smriti Mandhana 70; Sophie Ecclestone 5-118) beat England Women 170 (Amy Jones 52; Kranti Gaud 5-37, Sayali Satghare 2-40) & 176 (Amy Jones 54, Sophie Ecclestone 50; Sneh Rana 4-42) by 270 runs.