ICC Women's Championship: Shrubsole shines as England beat Windies by 121 runs

Anya Shrubsole's late hitting with the bat before taking two early wickets helped England secure a comfortable 121-run victory over West Indies in a rain-hit ICC Women's Championship match at County Ground in Worcester. With the win, England has taken an unassailable lead 2-0. The hosts have now bagged a total of four points and will meet West Indies in the third ODI on June 13 at Chelmsford to earn two more precious points.

England opted to bat first and posted 233/7 on Sunday. Tamsin Beaumont and Amy Jones stitched a 59-run stand for the opening wicket before Chinelle Henry dismissed Jones, who gave a catch to Hayley Matthews at the point for 18. Sarah Taylor joined Beaumont but soon after rain hit the match and covers were pulled on. The match was recommenced with 41 overs per side. Beaumont raised her bat to celebrate her ninth half-century in the format off 64 balls. West Indies made a solid comeback as Afy Fletcher removed Sarah (23) and Beaumont (61) on the second and third delivery of the 24th over.

Natalie Sciver survived the hat-trick ball and along with her skipper, Heather Knight re-built the innings. Fletcher returned and clean bowled Knight for 14. Before Sciver was joined by her best friend and teammate Katherine Brunt, West Indies captain Stafanie Taylor got rid of Danielle Wyatt cheaply for three. England was in real trouble at 179/6 as a settled Sciver (35) dragged the ball on to her stumps off Matthews while Brunt returned after contributing run-a-ball 23. Shrubsole and Sophie Ecclestone remained unbeaten on 32 and 11, respectively. Meanwhile, Fletcher was the pick of the West Indies bowlers with 3-48, including two wickets in two balls.

England's total of 233/7 was adjusted to a target of 244 for the West Indies due to a rain delay. The Caribbean side got off to a bad start as Britney Cooper (6) got leg-before off the penultimate ball of the wicket-maiden sixth over from Shrubsole. The right-arm medium bowler returned and got Matthews (17) caught behind. In the ninth over, Kate Cross dismissed Kycia Knight, who gave a catch to Brunt at mid-off for a five-ball duck.

Soon after, at mid-wicket Sciver took a great one-handed catch of West Indies skipper Stafanie Taylor (6) off Cross, reducing the Caribbean side on 32/4 after 13 overs. The rain again delayed the match and it further got reduced to 28 overs with a revised target of 209 under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.

West Indies struggled to hit the ball and Laura Marsh, who was playing her 100th ODI match, bagged a wicket in the name of Chedean Nation (9). The England skipper dismissed Shemaine Campbelle for 29 on the last ball of the 28th over and West Indies, at 87/6, fell 121 runs short. Brief scores: England 233/7 (T Beaumont 61, N Sciver 35, A Fletcher 3-48) beat West Indies 87/6 (S Campbell 29, K Cross 2-4, A Shrubsole 2-12) by 121 runs. 

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