The Austria Women’s tour of Italy kickstarted on 9th August 2021 at the Roma Cricket Club pitch in Spinaceto. The series comprises 5 bilateral T20 matches which will be played until 12th August 2021. Initially, the Jersey women were to participate as well however, due to the pandemic restrictions they had to withdraw and this tri-series became a two-team series.
This series also marked the entry of Italy into women’s international cricket. The Italian women played their first-ever T20 International game. By doing so, Italy has now become the 67th team to play an official match in women’s international cricket. What is even more commendable is that they won this match today, beating Austria by 8 Wickets!
The 20-women squad underwent several trials and practice matches and were then assembled into a squad of 13 players for the series. Kumudu Peddrick was chosen as captain and the team was coached by Royce H. Daniel. The match started with Austria winning the toss and choosing to bat first. The openers were Busra Uca and the Austrian captain Andrea-Mae Zepeda. Despite trying hard, the Italian bowlers did not give the opponents a chance to form a partnership as Busra was immediately caught out at 15 runs from 26 balls. Similarly, the other batswomen could not last long on the field as Samarawickrama, Peddrick and Kanankege executed their bowling skills beautifully. Only captain Andrea managed to cross the 30-run mark. The first inning ended at a chasable score of 107 runs with 3 wickets lost.
Next up was the batting time for the Italians. Opener Captain Kumudu played an excellent inning from start to the end with a creditable score of 47 runs from 47 balls. She took responsibility and propelled her team to victory when her teammates could not perform well. Despite using almost all her techniques, Austrian star bowler Valentina Avdylaj could not terminate Kumudu till the end. With support from Teshani Araliya, Italy finally won the match by 8 wickets and 23 balls remaining. This win gave them a lead in the series by 1-0 and also helped to shake off the initial nerves due their first ever T20I game. The second match of the series will be played tomorrow once again at the Roma Cricket Club pitch.
Austria Women’s tour of Italy 2021 – Schedule
5 Match T20I Series to be played between Austria and Italy Women’s team starting tomorrow.
Here’s the complete schedule 👇 pic.twitter.com/jxywvGR0L1
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 8, 2021
Loves all things female cricket