Fourth one-day international, Visakhapatnam:
India 156-5 (44.4 overs) beat England 152-9 (50 overs) by five wickets
Match scorecard

Mithali Raj led India home with 32 balls to spare

England's women fell to a five-wicket defeat to India in Visakhapatnam as the hosts took an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match one-day series.

England were asked to bat after losing the toss but only captain Charlotte Edwards produced a score of note, making 57 not out in a total of 152-9.

Mithali Raj hit 84 not out, her third consecutive fifty, as India reached their target with 32 balls to spare.

The dead-rubber game takes place in Mumbai on Monday.

Edwards said of the defeat: "We just didn't get enough runs again, it seems to be the story of the series. Mithali [Raj] has been like a thorn in my side. We needed to take early wickets and remove her and we didn't.

"Our fielding has been world class throughout this trip, the girls gave 110% and took India right to the line again, but if you don't put enough runs on the board your fielding means nothing.

"If we could get 30 or 40 more runs there would be a really good game of cricket out there, hopefully we can put that right in Mumbai."

Having lost Ebony Rainford-Brent and Jenny Gunn, the latter unlucky to be run-out at the non-striker's end after Amita Sharma got a hand on a Caroline Atkins drive, Edwards began rebuilding the innings.

She put on 39 with Atkins and 37 with Beth Morgan as England made slow progress on a turning wicket, before Danielle Hazell, in her first game of the tour, came in at 111-6 and struck three boundaries to give the innings some much-needed impetus.

With England needing quick wickets, Katherine Brunt gave England hope when she trapped Anjum Chopra leg before with just five runs on the board.

But the wicket brought the prolific Mithali to the crease and England's failure to displace her proved costly, with the right-hander striking 13 boundaries in her 123-ball innings.

England had grounds for optimism when India slipped to 59-3 after Gunn ran out Poonam Raut and Laura Marsh bowled Priyanka Roy.

But they managed to pick up just two more wickets, Edwards and Gunn the successful bowlers, and will travel to Mumbai hoping to avoid a 4-1 series loss.

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