Kate Cross takes 100th ODI wicket as West Indies succumb in pursuit of unlikely 367
Valkerie Baynes04-Jun-2025Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont both scored back-to-back centuries to deliver an unassailable 2-0 ODI series lead and put England on the cusp of a complete sweep of West Indies’ tour.Reprising their successful first-wicket partnership from the opening match in Derby, Jones and Beaumont drove the hosts to 366 for 6 against a severely understrength West Indies, who fell 143 runs short in the second game in Leicester despite a bright half-century from ODI debutant Realeanna Grimmond.Thrust into the role of opener with captain Hayley Matthews on the sidelines in a sling after aggravating a shoulder injury in the first ODI, and Qiana Joseph out due to illness, Grimmond scored 53 off 72 balls in just her third match for West Indies.Jannillea Glasgow, making her first appearance of this ODI series after two single-figure innings in the T20Is, added a quick-fire 44 off 24 balls at No.6 but Alice Capsey’s three wickets and two apiece for Linsey Smith and Lauren Filer allowed England to bowl West Indies out for 223 with 4.2 overs to spare.That was after Jones, who scored her maiden international hundred upon returning to the top of the England batting line-up for the first time in five years during the opening match last Friday, once again made the most of her promotion from the middle order.She and Beaumont had put on 222 runs together in Derby and on this occasion they managed 202, becoming only the second pair with two 200-plus partnerships in Women’s ODIs after Australians Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry.Emma Lamb contributed a brisk 55 after Jones bettered her 122 in Derby with 129 off just 98 balls and Beaumont followed her 107 with 106 on Wednesday as West Indies faced a 367 target to secure the first win of their tour, following England’s 3-0 sweep of the T20I leg and a 108-run victory in the first ODI.Amy Jones and Tammy Beaumont celebrate their century stand•Getty Images
The tourists’ target, even higher than the 346 they were asked to chase in the previous game, was made to look even more unattainable by the absence of Matthew. Their captain has carried her side throughout the trip, which resulted in her being named player of the T20I series. Her 48 in a 91-run stand with Joseph, who scored 62, were the only highlights for West Indies in the first ODI.Jones and Beaumont picked up where they had left off in Derby. Beaumont found the boundary with a lovely pair of cover drives off Cherry-Ann Fraser in the second and followed up a short time later with back-to-back fours off 19-year-old quick Jahzara Claxton, playing just her second ODI and third international match overall.Jones was also into her work early and took the partnership past the fifty mark with four through fine leg off a wide full toss from Claxton at the start of the seventh over. Claxton should have had Jones out for 43 but Grimmond spilled the chance at point and she brought up her fifty off 41 balls with a single crashed through long-on.Beaumont faced 64 deliveries for her fifty, which she brought up after overturning an lbw decision on 44 when she missed an attempted scoop off Afy Fletcher. The ball rapped her low and in line with off stump but ball-tracking showed it was turning too much.Three consecutive fours off Glasgow took Jones well into the 80s and she raised her second hundred in as many innings off just 76 balls with an authoritative extra cover drive off Karishma Ramharack for her 16th boundary. Ramharack saw Jones put down again on 104 after picking out long-on, but she finally ended Jones’s innings with a sharp return catch.Beaumont brought up her 12th ODI ton with a thunderous six over long-on, bookended by fours through midwicket and cow corner as Ramharack conceded 16 off the 38th over.Legspinner Fletcher could have had Beaumont out off her own bowling next over, although her hands thrust instinctively in front of her face to stop a rocket of a return did well to prevent serious injury, making the missed opportunity a secondary concern. In any event, Ramharack had Beaumont two balls later, holing out to deep midwicket.Claxton suffered a stinging blow to her hand stopping a similarly hard-hit drive back at her from Nat Sciver-Brunt but was fine to play on. Lamb had already brought up a 41-ball fifty at that point and Sciver-Brunt fell cheaply soon after, well caught in the deep by Grimmond off Aaliyah Alleyne. Grimmond took another excellent catch to end Lamb’s knock. A neat cameo of 31 off 19 balls by Sophia Dunkley took England past the 350 mark.Grimmond had run herself out for 4 in the first T20I at Canterbury after losing track of the ball as it was fired in from the field over her head, then scored 15 in the third at Chelmsford, her only other appearances to date for West Indies. But the fact that she took to her sizeable task in Leicester so well suggested there will be many more.Kate Cross took her 100th ODI wicket•Getty Images
Playing with poise and a sense of timing which made up for her slight frame, Grimmond struck six and four off Lauren Bell’s third over and after Zaida James, elevated from No.3, was caught behind by Jones off Bell for 19, Grimmond pulled another maximum away off Bell.Grimmond was struck hard on the right triceps attempting another pull shot off Lauren Filer but recovered quickly and a substantial edge off Filer through a vacant slips cordon took her to the brink of her maiden international milestone. She got there next ball, hammered away towards deep square leg where the fielder stationed just inside the rope restricted her to a single.That was after stand-in captain Shemaine Campbelle, dropped by Sciver-Brunt at third while on 2, added just four more then fell to Smith, the left-arm spinner who was England’s third star in Derby when she took five wickets while making her ODI debut more than six years after playing her first T20I.It was Smith who also accounted for Grimmond, who picked out Kate Cross at long-on, leaving West Indies 90 for 3 and still 277 runs adrift.Stafanie Taylor, playing just her second match of the tour after scoring a duck in the second T20I at Hove as she continues her comeback from injury, had a lot of work to do as the former captain and most experienced player left in the visitors’ line-up. But she fell for a 39-ball 20, chipping a Capsey delivery straight to Cross at mid-on.Cross, playing her 100th game for England across formats, took her 100th ODI wicket when she had Alleyne caught behind for a first-ball duck.Filer bowled with extreme pace into her eighth over. Having seen Fraser dropped by Jones behind the stumps in her seventh, a 77mph delivery that left Claxton and Jones smiling in disbelief was followed immediately by another beauty that sent Claxton’s bails flying and Fletcher went the same way three balls later to leave Filer with a decent reward for her efforts.Fraser offered stubborn resistance with an ODI career-best of 24 off 30 balls but when she skied Capsey to Bell at point it was all over.