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Seamer Kranti Goud led the way for India with 3 for 20 as they dismissed Pakistan for 159 in their chase of 248 in the Women’s World Cup at Khettarama.The result extended India’s dominance, making it 12 wins in 12 ODIs against Pakistan. It also took India to the top of the points table, ahead of Australia, while Pakistan have lost both their games in the tournament so far.India were sloppy in the field, but Pakistan failed to capitalise on it, never quite keeping pace with the required rate during their chase. Sidra Amin held one end up with 81 off 106, offering Pakistan a glimmer of hope, but her dismissal effectively ended Pakistan’s resistance. They were eventually bowled out in 43 overs.On a pitch where every other India batter found it difficult to score, Richa Ghosh crashed 35 not out off 20 from No.8, lifting India to 247 – the highest total without a fifty-plus stand in women’s ODIs. Harleen Deol top-scored for India with 46, with Pakistan’s five bowlers never letting the momentum go India’s way on what Jemimah Rodrigues described as “not an easy pitch” for batting during the innings break.Pakistan opened the bowling with left-arm spinner Sadia Iqbal after putting India in under grey skies, but soon went back to their usual new-ball pairing of Diana Baig and Fatima Sana. Pakistan lost a review early after an lbw shout against Smriti Mandhana was not given with the replays indicating that Baig’s delivery had pitched outside leg. Mandhana, however, struggled to get going, especially against Sana who mostly bowled tight lines, not allowing her to score on the off side. She eventually fell lbw to an inswinger from Sana for 23 after burning a review in the process.Related

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The introduction of spinners squeezed the scoring even further. Though Deol walked down the track to hit Rameen Shamim for a six, Pakistan kept building up the dot-ball pressure. Pratika Rawal scored 31 off 37 balls before she was undone by a Sadia Iqbal arm ball. By the end of 20 overs, India had played out 78 dots.With captain Harmanpreet Kaur too falling without making any big impact, leaving India 106 for 3 in 25 overs, the onus was on Deol to build on her start. India seemed to have found themselves in more trouble after Baig had Rodrigues caught behind for 2, but it turned out to be a no-ball. Rodrigues then smashed the free-hit to the midwicket boundary.Sidra Amin top-scored for Pakistan with 81 off 106 balls•ICC/Getty Images

Rodrigues and Deol added 45 in 51 balls before Shamim had Deol hole out to long-on in the 34th over. In the next over, Nashra Sandhu then had Rodrigues lbw for 32 after overturning an on-field not-out decision. In between those two overs, there was a 15-minute delay while the playing area at Khettarama was fumigated to clear it of a swarm of insects.India sent in Sneh Rana at No.7, ahead of Ghosh, and their struggle to up the ante continued. She holed out for 20 off 33 while struggling to break free, which brought Ghosh to the middle. Ghosh went on to punish the fast bowlers, smashing Sana’s slower delivery over wide long-on though wickets tumbled around her. She took 13 runs off Baig in the 48th over, and then Goud contributed with two boundaries in the final over of the innings to take India to an above-par total.India burnt a review with the very first ball of the chase, trying to overturn an lbw decision against Muneeba Ali. Pakistan’s openers, however, struggled to score against new-ball bowlers Goud and Renuka Singh, who came into the XI in place of Amanjot Kaur.In the fourth over, Muneeba was run-out in unusual circumstances. Muneeba, batting out of her crease, was not attempting a run when India appealed for an lbw off Goud’s bowling. As that appeal went up, Muneeba had promptly grounded her bat behind the crease before the throw from Deepti Sharma came in from the slip cordon. But replays revealed she had very briefly raised her bat off the ground again without having grounded any other part of the body behind the line when Deepti’s throw had dislodged the bails. The decision caused a brief stoppage with Pakistan captain Sana seen chatting with the fourth umpire near the rope.Goud continued to keep India in control, mixing her lengths and pace superbly. After having Sadaf Shamas caught and bowled, she had Aliya Riyaz caught at second slip, leaving Pakistan at 26 for 3 in 11.1 overs.Amin, getting off the mark with a boundary, had luck going her way. She escaped an lbw shout with India not opting to review while batting on 8; the replays later showing three reds on ball-tracking. Ghosh dropped an edge off her shortly after. She was also nearly caught and bowled by N Sree Charani while batting on 12. Amin, however, couldn’t score freely against India’s quicks.Amin, though, seemed to gain in confidence with the introduction of spinners as she hit Rana for a six over long-on. It was Pakistan’s first-ever six in an ODI against India. She then found able support from Natalia Pervais who made 33 off 46. Amin went onto bring up her fifty off 82 balls, but by then Pakistan’s required run rate ballooned towards eight. Amin fell under the pressure of that asking rate, leaving Pakistan at 150 for 8, and it didn’t take long for India to wrap up Pakistan’s innings.

England are “hopeful” that Ben Stokes will be fit to bowl them to a series win on Sunday after KL Rahul and Shubman Gill exposed their reliance on his old-ball threat in Manchester. Stokes, the leading wicket-taker in the series, was deemed too “stiff and sore” to bowl during the first 63 overs of India’s second innings at Old Trafford and will be assessed overnight by England’s medical team.Rahul and Gill added an unbroken 174 for the third wicket in 62.1 overs as India recovered from a nightmare start to bat through two full sessions unscathed. Barring one drop at backward point by Liam Dawson off Brydon Carse, England’s seamers struggled to create chances once the ball went soft and missed Stokes’ ability to break the game open.Stokes prepared to face India with a gruelling rehabilitation programme following hamstring surgery in January and has bowled 129 overs in the series so far, his personal record for a Test series. He retired hurt on the third day after suffering cramp in his left leg but returned later in the evening, going on to score his first Test century in more than two years on the fourth day.Related

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“He’s a bit stiff and sore,” Marcus Trescothick, England’s assistant coach, said when asked if Stokes would bowl on Sunday. “He’s had quite a big workload in the last few weeks, and then batting in the first innings, he was getting quite a bit of cramp. We are hoping that with another night’s rest and a bit more physio work overnight, he’ll be back and doing a bit tomorrow.”Stokes was seen clutching his hamstring while chasing a ball in the outfield, but Trescothick played down the concern. “It’s just a build-up,” he said. “It’s just such a heavy workload, from where he’s been to what he’s doing. It’s just trying to monitor it, and obviously the cramp that he was getting yesterday, you have that little bit of worry… We’ll see what he’s like tomorrow.”After managing his workload carefully across the first two-and-a-half Tests, Stokes bowled 19.2 overs on the final day of their win at Lord’s last week and said he spent “four days in bed” recovering. He bowled another 24 overs across the first two days in Manchester, taking 5 for 72, but appears to have struggled to recover from such a high volume of overs.1:25

‘Very few cricketers in history with the ability of Stokes’

Trescothick suggested that England had never planned to bowl Stokes on the fourth afternoon in the belief that his body would benefit from a break, and said that he had gone out to field despite his stiffness to ensure that he is allowed to bowl on the fifth day. “If he was off the field [today], then he wouldn’t be able to come back and bowl tomorrow,” he explained.Stokes will skip the Hundred next month and has not played a white-ball international for nearly two years, meaning that he may not play competitively between the end of the fifth Test at The Oval next week and the start of the Ashes in November.Michael Vaughan, the ex-England captain, said that England’s hopes in Australia would rest on Stokes’ fitness. “We saw today how much he is missed,” he said on the BBC’s . “My fingers are crossed that we don’t have a moment before the Ashes or in that first Test in Perth.”I honestly look at this England side and everything they’re delivering and think, in Australia, they have a great chance if he’s fit. If Ben Stokes is injured […] and can just be the batter, it has a huge impact on the outcome of an Ashes series overseas.”