Cricket: Commanding wins for India, England

England and India had easy wins in the women's World Cup cricket tournament in Christchurch yesterday.

An unbeaten century by opener Charlotte Edwards and career-best bowling figures from Sarah Collyer provided the impetus for England's crushing 140-run victory over the Netherlands.

England dominated from the outset, after winning the toss, with Edwards in supreme touch, scoring 139 off just 152 balls.

Her innings was studded with 17 boundaries, and after the early dismissal of opening partner Clare Taylor, she added 184 runs for the second wicket with Barbara Daniels (79) to set the Dutch an impregnable total.

The Netherlands used seven bowlers, with Teuntje de Boer the most impressive, taking two for 42 from her 10 overs.

England were not about to lift the foot off the throat when they took the field, Collyer bowling unchanged from the outset and claiming five for 32.

Her figures, the ninth-best in women's World Cup history, could have been even more impressive had de Boer not slammed 17 off one over late in the forlorn run chase.

The Dutch innings never threatened the required run-rate, and the underdogs were content to bat out their allocation of overs after wickets fell too frequently in the middle stages for them to mount a serious challenge.

Meanwhile, India strolled to an eight-wicket win against South Africa.

The miserly bowling of Purnima Rau and Renu Margrate restricted South Africa to a paltry 128 for eight and India reached the victory target with more than 10 overs to spare.

South Africa's innings never gained any momentum and the scoring rate dried to a trickle, particularly when Purnima (3-12) and Margrate (2-15) were putting the brakes on the innings.

- NZPA