It was a hot Saturday morning and two top-quality sides were up against each other as world champions Australia faced their arch-rivals England in the Commonwealth Bank tri-nation tournament at the Manuka Oval, Canberra which in the wake of the upcoming world cup is the most exciting contest to get acclimatized to the conditions especially for the visiting sides.
England came on the back of a tough loss just a day ago and were up against the mighty Australians who were up for the challenge playing their first game of the tournament. The trend of bowling first continued for the team winning the toss as Australia won the toss and put England to bat. Openers Amy Jones (10 off 24) & Danny Wyatt (17 off 14) who missed out against India, began with a slow start but couldn’t make it count big as England lost the top 3 pretty early and were under pressure again. The onus was once again on the skipper Heather Knight who on the back of an exceptional innings against India scoring her highest individual T20I score came in once again and broke that record scoring a magnificent 78 off 45 taking her team out of danger and playing a typical captain’s knock along with a fantastic partnership with Fran Wilson (39 off 28) who played a crucial knock, down the order to finish the English innings on a high putting up a par score of 156-4 in their 20 overs. Megan Schutt (1/40) & Georgia Wareham (1/15) took a wicket each but it was the No.1 all-rounder in the world Ellyse Perry (1/9) who was the pick of the bowlers who took a wicket just giving away nine runs in her 4 overs.
Now one of the dangerous opening pairs in the current women’s cricket set up, Alyssa Healey ( 9 off 4), and Beth Mooney (65 off 45) came out with a positive intent to chase this target down but Alyssa Healey after scoring consecutive boundaries went for another one and perished. Beth Mooney, on the other hand, held one end and went to score her 3rd half-century in T20I’s and kept Australia in the hunt. She kept running out of partners at the other end as there was no substantial contribution from the middle order. Natalie Sciver (3/23) & Sarah Glenn (3/28) bowled beautifully on a good batting track and kept picking wickets at regular intervals. But this game was a special one for a youngster who made her debut for Australia at 18 years of age as Annabelle Sutherland (22 off 11) got her Australian cap and came out to bat when the chips were down when Australia were 7 down for 114. She along with Delissa Kimmince (15 off 6) batted out of their skins and took Australia to the exact same score which England managed in the first innings and the match ended in a tie with the winners to be decided in a super over.
THE WINNING MOMENT 😍 #SuperOver pic.twitter.com/iY97e6mxP5
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 1, 2020
So the super over began and Australia batted first as per the rules and Alyssa Healey with Ashleigh Gardener came out to bat and it was Sophie Ecclestone who was handed to do the job with the ball. She did a fantastic job conceding only 8 in the super over which was always going to be difficult for the home side to defend. England sent their best batter of the day, Heather Knight along with opener Danny Wyatt and they had to face Ellyse Perry to chase 9 runs off the super over and get 2 points on the board. But this was “Knights Day” as the skipper finished the game off in style hitting a boundary to end the match and winning the player of the match which made it two in two for the English skipper.
England secured 2 points and have opened their account with Australia at the third place on the points table. Australia will look to avenge this loss on Sunday against table-toppers India and it is expected to be a Super Game on a Super Sunday.
WHAT A GAME!
Captain @Heatherknight55 has done it again! Back to back half-centuries & wins this one for England, Credits to @Sophecc19 who bowled really well! #AUSWvENGW pic.twitter.com/JDAazZP2lc— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 1, 2020
Brief Scores:
ENGW: 156/4 (20 overs) AUSW: 156/8 (20 overs)
Result: England Women won the match in super over
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