Beaumont stars in England Women's series-clinching five-wicket win

England women won yet another one-sided affair, this time by five wickets at the R Premadasa Stadium in Colombo on Tuesday (November 15), to seal the four-match series 3-0 and bring down the curtains on Sri Lanka women's hopes of a direct qualification for next year's Women's World Cup.

Natalie Sciver drew first blood in the sixth over after Sri Lanka opted to bat first. While four batters in Sri Lanka's line-up crossed the 20-run mark, none of them converted their starts to put the visitors under pressure. Regular wickets never allowed Sri Lanka to get going in their attempt to set a competitive total, with spinners Laura Marsh, Danielle Hazell and Alex Hartley picking up two wickets apiece. Sri Lanka were eventually bowled out for a paltry 161.

In reply, Lauren Winfield and Tammy Beaumont put together a fifty-run opening stand before being separated when Inoka Ranaweera removed Winfield (21) in the 13th over. Beaumont registered her third ODI fifty while scoring a pacy 78 off just 79 balls to keep England ahead throughout the run-chase.

In a rather anti-climatic manner, Fran Wilson (30) and Beaumont (78) fell with England less than ten runs short of the target. Georgia Elwiss and keeper Amy Jones, however, saw the tourists through in win with 123 deliveries to spare.

The last game of the series will be played on Thursday (November 17).

Brief Scores: Sri Lanka Women 161 in 49.4 overs (Nipuni Hansika 29, Chamari Atapattu 27; Alex Hartley 2-23, Danielle Hazell 2-24) beat England Women 162/5 in 29.3 overs (Tammy Beaumont 78, Fran Wilson 30; Oshadi Ranasinghe 2-26) by five wickets.