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Tag: Women's Cricket World Cup

  • Monster partnership ensures Australia retains dominance over England

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    An unbeaten century partnership between Annabel Sutherland and Ash Gardner has steered Australia to another World Cup triumph as the two masterful all-rounders shattered England’s spirits once again in a six-wicket rout.

    The dynamic duo enjoyed sensational days at Indore’s Holkar Stadium as Gardner added her second century of the tournament (104 not out) to her earlier two wickets, while player-of-the-match Sutherland also finished unbeaten on 98 after taking three scalps.

    Their only disappointment on yet another day that demonstrated both champions’ extraordinary strength and capacity to rebound from a real predicament was that they could not quite contrive a finish in which they both got hundreds.

    “I’m very happy — the spinners did a fantastic job with the ball, we had a little bit of a shaky start with the bat, but then Bels and Ash were just world-class,” said Tahlia McGrath, who filled in as captain for the injured Alyssa Healy.

    “So good to watch them. It was clinical and I feel for Bels a bit, not getting a hundred. She thoroughly deserved it.”

    Annabel Sutherland was named the player of the match after picking up three wickets earlier in the match. (Getty Images: Surjeet Yadav)

    The other star of unbeaten Australia’s fifth victory of the tournament, which puts the team back atop the league table, was leg-spinner Alana King.

    She grabbed 1-20 off 10 immaculate overs that thoroughly strangled England mid-innings, enabling them to be held to 9-244.

    In reply Australia had another stuttering start and slumped to 4-68.

    But Sutherland and Gardner put on 180 off 151 balls, helping Australia reach its target on 4-248 with 9.3 overs to spare.

    It was Australia’s highest fifth-wicket partnership in women’s ODIs — Gardner scored a similar ton at number six on this very ground during a struggle against New Zealand at the start of the tournament.

    Female cricketers in bright uniforms celebrate after a wicket.

    Alana King was miserly once again with the ball, strangling England’s batters during the middle overs. (Getty Images: Surjeet Yadav)

    She was so dominant against a deflated England attack that by the end that she raced past Sutherland, blitzed her way to a ton off 69 balls and then blocked the next three deliveries to allow her partner, on 95, to get to three figures too.

    Alas, it did not quite work — a weary Sutherland eked out three more runs at the start of the next over before losing the strike and telling Gardner she should finish the job.

    “I’m happy she got it done,” smiled the young champion, whose 98 off 112 balls had her hailed as “such a gun” by admiring captain McGrath.

    Earlier, it had been King who suffocated England in familiar fashion, aided by three more scalps for the tournament’s leading wicket-taker Sutherland (3-60) and a couple each for spinners Sophie Molineux (2-52) and Gardner (2-39).

    With Healy sidelined as a precaution with a “minor calf strain”, McGrath elected to field first and led her troops with fine tactical aplomb after a tough start when Tammy Beaumont and Amy Jones led off with a half-century partnership for England in the powerplay.

    Sutherland, who has now taken a tournament-high 15 wickets, made the breakthrough when her outswinger clipped the top of Jones’s off-stump.

    King hypnotised the England batters from the start and made the key breakthrough by tempting captain Nat Sciver-Brunt to slice one sky-high into the safe hands of Sutherland at mid-off.

    “She’s a special player — a big wicket,” King of Sciver-Brunt’s dismissal.

    “I was happy to see the back of her — we know how damaging she can be. She’s got us many times in the past before.

    “I kept it really simple, kept the stumps in play as much as possible and tried to extract as much spin as I can.”

    It was a combination that proved too much for the English batters.

    Beaumont, England’s mainstay, battled to a fine 78 off 105 balls, but trying to push on amid King’s strangulation of England’s middle-order, it was Sutherland who got her caught niftily on the boundary by an off-balance Georgia Voll, who had to throw the ball up and re-catch it to avoid giving away a six.

    Alice Capsey (38 off 32) and Charlie Dean (26 off 27) provided a bit of late impetus and England dreamt briefly when Phoebe Litchfield (one), Voll (six), Ellyse Perry (13) and Beth Mooney (20) all fell cheaply.

    But for the side whitewashed 16-0 in the Ashes, though, nothing appears to have changed.

    AAP

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  • Healy smashes World Cup’s fastest ton as Australia books semifinal spot

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    Alyssa Healy has scored back-to-back centuries to lead her Australian champions into the semifinals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a merciless 10-wicket trouncing of Bangladesh.

    Healy hit a glorious unbeaten 113, which came four days after her equally brilliant 142 to see off hosts India at the same Visakhapatnam stadium.

    This time she shared a magnificent unbroken double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in 24.5 overs.

    The supreme professionalism of Thursday’s chase came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest display in the field under Healy’s stewardship, after which the skipper scolded herself for spilling two of the six catches that went down.

    “I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” she said after the win.

    “I was a little bit disappointed with my glove work and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done.”

    Healy (right) and opening partner Phoebe Litchfield combined for an unbeaten opening partnership of 202 runs. (Getty Images: Alex Davidson)

    The half-dozen dropped catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup since the collection of fielding stats began in 2013.

    “Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament — we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.

    The errors helped Bangladesh eke out 9-198 after choosing to bat, which was the team’s highest total in an ODI against Australia.

    Sobhana Mostary compiled the Asian side’s first-ever half-century against the world champs.

    Female cricketers in brightly-coloured Australian uniforms celebrate after taking a wicket.

    Alana King (left) was named the player of the match after another sensational spell with the ball. (Getty Images: Pankaj Nangia)

    But Alana King’s mesmeric, unbroken 10-over spell in which she took 2-18 with four maidens was key to ensuring Australia’s target was not too challenging.

    Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which put her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guaranteed them a place in the last-four.

    “That’s really cool,” she said at the presentation.

    The 35-year-old skipper sped to her hundred off 73 balls, which was the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries as she pulled away from Litchfield.

    Earlier in the innings they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their 50s.

    Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six to get to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43.

    They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.

    Earlier, during the uncharacteristically poor fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland.

    She did take a clean catch off Brown but did not have it reviewed when the umpire rejected her appeal.

    The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but still ended up with the expensive figures of 0-52 off her nine overs.

    Instead, it was the spinners who thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney had not dropped one in the slips.

    Fellow spinners Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.

    Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record total against the Aussies, but the total was made to look easy by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.

    “It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said King, the player of the match.

    “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”

    AAP

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