Tag: odi

It’s easy to forget just how young Phoebe Litchfield still is.

Having only turned 22 in April this year, the punchy, breathtakingly talented top order batter has been the future of Australian cricket since before the Covid pandemic.

In mid-2019, prior to even making her state debut, the then 16-year-old Litchfield was a sensation in Australian cricketing circles after footage of her batting in the NSW nets went viral on social media.

Six months later, she played a match winning knock for the Governor General’s XI against India, and only days after that, was lining up alongside Ricky Ponting, Alex Blackwell and Brian Lara for the Bushfire Cricket Bash.

The hype surrounding Litchfield was reaching the kind of fever pitch reserved for only the most exciting of cricketing prodigies.

However, a pandemic interrupted two years plus the continued dominance of a stacked Australian batting line-up meant Litchfield had to wait until late 2022 for her international debut.

Since then, her still obviously generational talent has threatened and simmered, but it has also sputtered at times, with glorious centuries against India and Ireland being tempered by quiet Ashes and T20 World Cup campaigns.

Now, on the eve of her first ODI World Cup, Litchfield finds herself flirting with career-best form, having just topped the run-scoring charts in England’s showpiece domestic short-form tournament, the Hundred.

With the baby-faced, pre-pandemic Litchfield now confined to the realms of sporting prodigies past, and with many of her world beating batting teammates well into the twilight of their careers, Australia’s cricketing future has never been better placed to become its present.

Australia chasing history after an up and down 12 months

There are few feats that have eluded the modern Australian women’s cricket team, but winning consecutive ODI World Cups is one of them. Not since 1988 has a nation gone back-to-back in the tournament, with the green and gold claiming every second instalment since then.

That’s a hoodoo that the 2022 winner will be looking to shake in the tournament to be played in India and Sri Lanka over the next month.

Australia will begin its campaign as favourite, but perhaps without quite the same aura of invincibility it brought to the tournament three years ago, after a meek exit in last year’s T20 World Cup.

Despite winning all four of their group matches, it was a tournament to forget for many of the Australians, including Litchfield. Batting in the middle order and starved of significant strike, she was only able to manage a top score of 18 from five knocks.

For this modern Australian team, the semifinal loss to South Africa was an unacceptable failure, but one that was avenged in the most comprehensive of fashions with an Ashes whitewash at the start of this year.

Against an England side that wilted horribly, all-rounder Ash Gardner and leg-spinner Alana King both had coming of age series for Australia, while Annabel Sutherland continued to shine as Ellyse Perry’s heir apparent.

However, Litchfield was once again underwhelming. She failed to reach 50 in seven attempts in the multi format series, with her highest white ball score being a stodgy and at times excruciating 50 ball 29 in the second ODI.

In a series so lopsided, that lean run was of little consequence. But in the upcoming World Cup, which has been touted to be the “the strongest ever” by captain Alyssa Healy, Australia may well require more from Litchfield.

Litchfield finds her best form in enemy territory

So, Litchfield’s excellent recently completed English summer serves as a timely reminder of the player she still promises to become.

Not only was she the Hundred’s player of the tournament and highest scorer, but she compiled her 292 runs at a strike-rate of 157.83 — the third best of any batter in the tournament.

However, translating form across formats and oceans is never a sure thing.

The spin friendly decks of India and Sri Lanka will provide an entirely different challenge to the one she rose to in England, while the 50 over game is worlds away from the Frankenstein’s monster of a format she played there.

ODI cricket has a unique, increasingly archaic rhythm, and Litchfield has at times struggled to play her shots to it, oscillating between awkwardly repressing her attacking instincts and living by them too fiercely.

But her form in Australia’s World Cup warm-up matches has been promising. 

She hit 88 against India and then 71 against England, with both knocks hinting at a more balanced and composed Litchfield.

She scored at more than a run a ball in both games and, against England, did so while most of her teammates tried and failed to keep pace.

Speaking after the match against India, Litchfield said she was very aware of the importance of acclimatising to the 50 over format.

“My brain was probably going a bit quicker than it needed to,” Litchfield said.

“50 over cricket is a long game…so I’ve just got to find the balance.”

This World Cup is a transitional tournament for Australia.

White the current team has already successfully evolved from the wildly successful side of the 2010s and early 2020s, its spine and identity remains tied to it.

All time greats Healy and Perry, now 35 and 34 respectively, are both unlikely to feature at another ODI World Cup.

Having played international cricket since the early 2010s, they are some of the final vestiges of the Australian team of 10 years ago, and do not only offer the current side runs and quality, but mythos and aura as well.

Australia’s generation next has all the ability to build a similar legacy — Sutherland and Gardner are already world beaters, while the likes of King and Georgia Voll are clearly special talents.

But it is the true international arrival of Litchfield that would, above all else, signal that the future of Australian cricket has really arrived.

ABC Sport will broadcast live radio coverage of every match of the ICC ODI Women’s World Cup. Australia starts its campaign tonight against New Zealand at 7:30pm (AEST).