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England fail tough test set by Chopra

India (213-7) bt England (127) by 86 runs

According to India's coach, Anjum Chopra is more effective in Test matches than one-day cricket. After making a hundred in yesterday's game, her second successive match-winning innings, England can be forgiven for viewing the forthcoming Test match with some trepidation.

Belying her coach's concerns about her scoring rate, Chopra hit a century off 127 balls, including 13 fours and many a classic shot, to give India victory in the match and the one-day series.

The sultry conditions offered hope of swing to England's battalion of seamers, but unlike the wicket in the first one-day international at Old Trafford, yesterday's track was fast and promised plenty of runs.

Chopra's partnership of 104 for the second wicket with keeper Anju Jain (54) was the foundation of the Indian innings. Jain survived an early scare when dropped in the third over and made the most of it by chalking up a half-century.

England, initially hawkish in the field, provided most of the noise around a sparsely populated Wantage Road ground - a far cry from the tens of thousands of fans the Indian players could expect at home. But as the Indian total grew, so England's fielding floundered and they numbered a missed stumping and another dropped catch among their lost opportunities.

Once star batsman Charlotte Edwards departed in the first over for a duck, England faced an uphill task to overhaul the Indian total. While captain Karen Smithies and Kathryn Leng were at the wicket there was hope, but once Leng holed out the game was up.

The one bright note for England was a final-over hat-trick for spinner Clare Connor, who declared herself ``absolutely delighted''.