India Women vs England Women: Fans Call Amy Jones a 'Cheat' After Claiming Dropped Catch

During the first match of the ongoing Australia Tri-Nation Women’s T20 Series between Indian women’s cricket team and England women’s cricket team at Canberra, a controversy sparked at the start of the match. English wicket-keeper Amy Jones claimed a catch which had popped out of her gloves in the first place.

The drama took place in the 2nd over of the game when Indian opener Smriti Mandhana nicked the first ball off Katherine Brunt‘s bowling behind the wicket and Jones attempted to dive towards the left to take the catch and after which, Smriti made her way back to the pavilion.

India Women vs England Women: Amy Jones couldn’t complete the catch –

However, the replays suggested that the wicket-keeper did not take the catch cleanly. As Jones celebrated Smriti’s dismissal, which was overturned later by the third umpire, Indian cricket fans were absolutely livid with the wicketkeeper and launched a scathing attack on Amy for playing against the spirit of the game. Some fans went a step ahead and accused her of cheating.

Thereon, Smriti walked back to the crease after watching the replay on the big screen. She then hit three boundaries off five balls in the over. However, she could not resist there for long as Natalie Sciver picked the prized scalp.

Previously, after being asked to bat first, England got off to a disappointing start to the game as Indian bowler Rajeshwari Gayakwad dismissed openers Jones (1) and Dani Wyatt (4) early on in the game.

Having lost two wickets for nine runs, Sciver and skipper Heather Knight steadied the ship to a considerable extent but England finally managed to score just 147 runs on board.

Indian women bowlers kept the opposition in check. Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey and Deepti Sharma picked two wickets each while Radha Yadav picked one wicket.

Harmanpreet Kaur hits a match-winning 42: 

India women chased the target and won the match by five wickets with three balls to spare.

The pick of the batswoman – Harmanpreet Kaur scored an unbeaten 34-ball-42 on the back of five fours and a six to help India ace the run-chase.

This is how Twitter reacted after Amy Jones claimed a dropped catch:

https://twitter.com/ganglukapoor/status/1223109308314816514?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1223109308314816514&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.timesnownews.com%2Fsports%2Fcricket%2Farticle%2Fwatch-amy-jones-called-cheat-by-fans-after-claiming-dropped-catch-during-india-women-vs-england-women-match%2F547455

Sorry to say but #amyjones has done a cheating on the cricket field today #INDWVENGW

— Prateek Bagree (@Praty_b) January 31, 2020

Brain explosion from Amy Jones trying to pretend she had control of it. https://t.co/9glAZyfTGV

— Daniel Hanney ⚽ ✈ (@DanHanney) January 31, 2020

thats really unprofessional from #England wicketkeeper Amy Jones.. clearly fumbling a catch but still claiming it #INDvENG #womenscricket

— Veepee (@vp_vpul) January 31, 2020

The ongoing series presents a good chance for the Indian team to prepare for the next Women’s World T20 tournament which is scheduled to be held in Australia from February 21 onwards. Despite having several talented players in the team, India did not win an ICC tournament lately.

India reached the 2017 Women’s World Cup final but lost the thrilling encounter by 4 runs to England. It is cognisance of the fact that England and Australia are the two heavyweights in women’s cricket and it would give India a great opportunity to prepare for the marquee event.

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