Australian Women continued to maintain their victory streak and took the tally to 23 after winning the 2nd ODI against New Zealand by 71 runs in the Rose Bowl series. Making their mark in the world of cricket, the Australian Women’s team has now successfully won 23 ODIs in a row, leaving no scope for any competition.
Having won the toss, New Zealand opted to bowl first. As the hosts were looking to level the series, Australian openers Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy walked in to bat. Both seemed to be settled on the ground before Leigh Kasperek took the first wicket for the White Ferns late in the 18th over. She had got the much-needed breakthrough that her team was looking for.
But skipper Meg Lanning had come out to bat with a firm mindset. Haynes and Lanning left the New Zealand bowlers struggling to pick the second wicket as they brought up their 50-run partnership. The partnership broke when Lanning was a run away from her half-century and Amy Satterthwaite took her down. And within a short time, Haynes had to walk back too. Within no time, Kasperek added 6 wickets to her scalp out of the total 7 that Australia lost before ending their innings at 271/7.
Aiming to chase down the score, New Zealand did not have a great start as opener Lauren Down was taken for a duck in the first over by Tayla Vlaeminck and skipper Satterthwaite lost her wicket to Megan Schutt in the second over, minutes after she had entered to bat. Hayley Jensen and Amelia Kerr went strong to bring up their 50-run partnership, keeping the White Ferns’ hopes high.
But the Australian bowlers had an upper hand in the second innings as they were able to restrict the batters from getting runs and also picked up wickets at regular intervals. New Zealand’s chase saw three run-outs in total and Jess Jonassen picked 3 wickets in her 9 overs spell. Leaving no scope for the hosts to score further, Aussies took them all down at 200, registering their 23rd ODI win in a row.
Australia had dominated the game from the start as the top order batters pulled out 196 runs before losing their middle-order batters. But unfortunately, the hosts couldn’t back Kasperek’s contribution with the ball. With barely any significant contribution with the bat by the White Ferns, Amelia Kerr was the top scorer with 47 runs in her bag.
DONE & DUSTED!
Australia Claims another series WIN, beating NZ by 71 Runs in the 2nd ODI.
That’s 23 Consecutive ODI Wins. #NZvAUS #NZWvAUSW pic.twitter.com/SKF6vD9Qtk
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) April 7, 2021
Rachael Haynes was titled the Player of the Match for her knock of 87 runs, giving the perfect start to Australia.
“I just wanted to give myself a little bit of time early. Learning from game one there was a little bit of swing and it was tough to get started. I was just trying to hang in there and was probably afforded a little bit of time early to bat on. Just disappointing I wasn’t able to bat a little bit deeper,” she said.
“We know that despite the fact there may be tough periods throughout the innings you can generally catch up. We just wanted to try and absorb a bit of pressure early. It wasn’t going to be any easier for someone else coming. But it was nice, we had wickets in hand at the back end of our innings which perhaps we didn’t quite cash in on … but we got some good partnerships back to back,” she added.
Here’s what the two captains had to say-
Amy Satterthwaite (New Zealand): “I liked the way Kasperek bowled. We were happy with that. It was the best bowling effort for a New Zealand bowler against Australia. There were few positives. Kerr batted well. We had few chances. We created opportunities and half-chances but we could not convert them. We have to keep building up and we have to know that we are playing against a quality Australian side. It is tough to be by the sidelines. Kasperek was good at coming back in the side.”
Meg Lanning (Australia): “We enjoyed being aggressive. It was a good batting wicket. It was nice to see Rach bat. But we lost a few wickets towards the end. We thought it was a good score but not a match-winning score. We discussed at half-time that we have to get in there and restrict there. It was great to stop them to just 200.”
With a game to spare, Australia has clinched the series 2-0. The two teams will lock horns again in the final ODI on 10th April.
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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!