As the two teams Australia and New Zealand eyed clinching the series, the weather had some different plans for them. When the two teams geared up for the decider match, rain delayed the toss keeping the players and the fans waiting.
The covers didn’t go off for a long time, but when they finally did, the match was reduced to 13 overs on each side. With New Zealand’s stand-in captain Amy Satterthwaite opting to field first, Australian openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney opened the game for their side.
In the 13-over match, Mooney lost her wicket in the second over to Rosemary Mair. But even after a good start by the White Ferns, the covers were called for during the third over as the weather conditions weren’t supportive.
The rains had not just delayed the match, but abandoned later as there was no scope of even a 5-over game being played. A thriller series came to an end just like that, and both the captains shared the trophy between themselves as the series remained level at 1-1. During the presentation ceremony, New Zealand’s Jess Kerr was named the player of the series.
Here’s what the two captains had to say –
Amy Satterthwaite: “It was really pleasing, the way we started off. Getting in just the three overs today was disappointing. We turned up today looking forward to it. It’s the place where we want to get to – where when you call upon anybody and they get into the game straight away. Getting players exposed to these games and put their hands up is great. We’ve been really proud of how we’ve stuck at it. Looking forward to the one-dayers. It is a format where I think we have struggled a bit off late but we are looking forward to it. It’s always great to play on the main ground so it was disappointing that today had to end like this.”
Meg Lanning: “We were looking forward to the challenge and it was a great opportunity to challenge ourselves against New Zealand that’s a really good side. We haven’t played much at Eden Park either so it’s disappointing. (On the previous game) They bowled really well up front. One of those games that could have gone either way but credit to New Zealand for the way they came back. We both are quite aggressive with the kind of cricket we like to play especially in the T20s. The Big Bash as well showed the same when they (the Kiwi players) were there. We have a lot of respect for each other. Looking forward to the ODIs coming up. The contest with New Zealand is always strong and we’re going to have to play really well to lift the trophy.”
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I’m a Senior Masters student pursuing Journalism and Mass Communication. An all time Cricket enthusiast. I could never play the game but always loved watching it, and now writing about it!