Knight's fifty and clinical bowling propels England to their first win

In a match that mattered the most for the two sides, England produced an all-around performance to record their first win in this edition of the World Cup against arch-rivals India at the Bay Oval. 

While most people expected the game to be the rematch of the summit clash 2017 World Cup at the Home of Cricket, this high-voltage clash turned out to be a fairly one-sided affair, with the defending champions recording their first win of the competition. 

After three relatively close games, England set foot at the Bay Oval with an aim to keep their campaign alive against a side that demolished the Windies a couple of days earlier. 

With the coin landing in favour of Heather Knight, England opted to field first and make use of the fresh wicket on offer along with windy conditions. The move seemed to have worked wonders for the side as Anya Shrubsole jolted the Women in Blue with two early wickets of Yastika Bhatia and Mithali Raj in under six overs of the innings. 

The senior pacer has been under pressure heading into this game considering her inconsistent performance in the first three matches but produced a sublime spell of bowling with the new ball to dent the Indian innings in the powerplay. 

And just as the team was recovering from the twin blows, Deepti Sharma called for a non-existent single to mid-off and help England with their third wicket of the innings. 

With three wickets down inside the powerplay, the onus of the side relied heavily on Harmanpreet Kaur and Smriti Mandhana to guide them out of this muddle. While they stitched a crucial 33-run stand for the fourth wicket, Charlie Dean's introduction in the bowling attack titled the match in favour of the 2017 winners. 

In only her second match at the iconic event, the off-spinner picked up the wicket of India vice-captain Harmanpreet for 14 and followed it up with the prized scalp of Sneh Rana for a two-ball duck. 

Despite losing half their side with only 61 runs on the board, India had the talent of Mandhana and Richa Ghosh, along with Pooja Vastrakar slated to come in next in the batting department. 

However, Sophie Ecclestone dismissing Mandhana for 35 derailed India's batting unit. Despite a brief resistance from Jhulan Goswami and Ghosh with a 37-run stand for the eighth wicket, India were bundled out for 134, their lowest in the World Cup since 2009. 

With an aim to improve their Net Run Rate in this innings, Danni Wyatt and Tammy Beaumont started the proceedings for England in pursuit of 135. However, the duo were dismissed with only four runs on the board courtesy of a sublime bowling performance from Meghna Singh and Goswami. 

The 39-year old scalped the wicket of Beaumont with an inswinging delivery to become the first women's player in the history of the game to pick up 250 wickets in this format. 

While India started the second innings well with some consistent bowling, Natalie Sciver and Heather Knight had other ideas. The duo steadied the innings with a 65-run stand for the third wicket to lay a solid foundation for the reigning champions. 

Vice-captain Sciver was the aggressor of the two as she smashed 45 off 46 deliveries studded with eight boundaries to help England improve on their run rate. 

Despite her dismissal, Knight kept England on track with a vital half-century to power the team to their first win of the tournament. Displaying an array of strokes all around the ground, the right-handed batter remained unbeaten on 53 off 72 balls with eight boundaries to give England something to cheer about after a below-par batting performance in the first three encounters. 

While England lost a flurry of wickets in the back end of the innings trying to score the runs quickly, a boundary by Ecclestone sealed the win for England with 112 balls remaining. 

With two wins in four games, India look to get their campaign back on track against the mighty Aussies on Saturday, 19th March at Eden Park in Auckland.