India all round Deepti Sharma she added one more milestone to her career on the opening day of the women’s Test last time out against England at Lord’s, becoming the most successful in the history of women’s international cricket. The 27-year-old passed the fastest runner Jhulan Goswami to the top of the regular list. Deepti now has 356 international wickets, surpassing Jhulan’s tally of 355 to claim the record.Most wickets in Women’s international cricket356 – Deepti Sharma (IND)355 – Jhulan Goswami (IND)338 – Sophie Ecclestone (ENG)336 – Ellyse Pelly (AUS)335 – Katherine Sciver-Brunt (ENG)325 – Shabnim Ismail (SA) The incident came on a day when Deepti also played a key role with the bat, scoring a valuable 57 to help India post 285 in their first innings after the visitors collapsed in order. The left-arm bowler now leads the wicket-taking list shared by England’s Sophie Ecclestone (338), Australia’s Ellyse Perry (336), England’s great Katherine Sciver-Brunt (335) and South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail (325). Deepti’s win came on a thrilling opening day at Lord’s, where India had climbed to half a century since. Smriti Mandhana (83), captain Harmanpreet Kaur (58) and Deepti herself before being released. India were in trouble early after losing Shafali Verma and Yastika Bhatia within the first seven overs, but Mandhana took control of the innings with good knocks. First he added 64 runs for the third wicket in a row Jemimah Rodrigueswho scored 35 off 38 balls. This partnership took India past 100 runs as both batsmen took on England’s bowlers. Mandhana then put together another crucial innings, adding 89 runs with Harmanpreet for the fourth wicket to give India control in the middle. However, England fought back strongly after Mandhana fell for 83 as he closed the century. Harmanpreet was dismissed shortly before tea, triggering a collapse that saw India slide from 190 for 3 to 285 all out. Deepti slowed England’s lead to 57 runs and shared a 45-run stand with Sneh Rana, but the bowlers took the last seven wickets for just 85 runs to stop India. England all-rounder Sophie Ecclestone also reached the innings peak, overtaking Katherine Sciver-Brunt to become England’s leading wicket-taker in women’s international cricket with 338 wickets after finishing with figures of 3 for 68. At stumps, England were 21 for 1 in reply. Kranti Goud removed Tammy Beaumont for two, while Maya Bouchier (17 not out) and Heather Knight (1 not out) led the hosts to the end, trailing India by 264 runs.
