Advertisement

Australia edge India in T20 World Cup semifinal thriller

cricket23 February 2023 16:54| © MWP
By:Ross Roche
Share

Australia were just good enough on the day as they edged India by five runs in a thrilling ICC Women’s T20 World Cup semifinal at Newlands in Cape Town on Thursday afternoon.

Batting first Australia scored a strong 172/4, before India gave it their all in response as they finished on 167/8, taking the game right down to the final few balls.

Indian captain Harmanpreet Kaur led from the front as she hammered 52 off 34 balls (6x4; 1x6), but her run out in the 15th over proved decisive as the batters to follow were unable to take them home in the end.

The Indian chase got off to a flying and wicket filled start as they attacked from the first ball, but also lost three early wickets to set them back.

Openers Shafali Verma (9) and Smriti Mandhana (2) were both trapped LBW, off the bowling of Megan Schutt and Ashleigh Gardner respectively, while Yastika Bhatia (4) was run out, leaving them on 28/3 in the fourth over.

This brought Kaur to the crease to join Jemimah Rodrigues, 43 off 24 balls (6x4), and they continued playing positively as they powered India to 59/3 at the end of the powerplay.

Both batters kept playing their shots, crunching boundaries all around the ground, which put them in charge at the halfway mark on 93/3, but in the next over Rodrigues edged a ball from Darcie Brown to keeper Alyssa Healy to end the superb 69-run partnership with them on 97/4.

It was now up to Kaur to try and guide her side home and she attempted to get them on track with a 36-run fifth wicket stand with Richa Ghosh (14).

However, disaster struck in the 15th over after Kaur had got to her half century with back-to-back boundaries, she then swept the ball to the square leg fence, but coming back for what should have been a simple second run her bat got stuck in the pitch as she tried to run it in, allowing Healy to break the stumps and send her on her way.

Ghosh followed in the next over caught in the deep off the bowling of Brown, leaving India on 135/6 and needing 37 to win off the last 24 balls.

Deepti Sharma, 20 not out off 17 balls (2x4,) kept them in the game until the final over, but with wickets continuing to fall it proved to be too much in the end.

COSTLY DROP

In the first innings a half century from Beth Mooney and unbeaten 49 from captain Meg Lanning helped Australia set India 173 to win.

Mooney struck a solid 54 off 37 balls (7x4; 1x6) at the top of the order, while Lanning cashed in at the back end of the innings to finish just a run short of fifty, having faced 34 balls and hit four boundaries and two sixes.

At the start of play Australia won the toss and chose to bat, with Healy (26) setting the tone for the innings by cutting the first ball of the match from Renuka Singh past backward point for a boundary.

The two openers then set into a steady rhythm of punishing the bad balls and rotating the strike as they reached 43/0 at the end of the six-over powerplay.

Mooney brought up the pair's 50 partnership with a powerful shot through cover at the start of the eighth over, but two balls later Healy came down the wicket at Radha Yadav, only to miss the ball completely, with keeper Ghosh whipping off the bails to send her on her way.

New batter Lanning, on one, then received a reprieve in the next over, as a thick edge off the bowling of Sneh Rana was shelled by Ghosh, which proved to be costly as she went on to be the second highest scorer in the innings.

An action packed 10th over saw Mooney crash two boundaries, the second dropped by Verma for four, as they reached the halfway mark on 69/1.

Mooney reached her half century in style at the start of the 12th over with back-to-back boundaries off Shikha Pandey, but three balls later cut the ball straight to Verma, who held on this time, as Australia slipped to 88/2.

Gardner, 31 off 18 balls (5x4) joined Lanning, and was the aggressor in a strong 53-run third-wicket stand off 30 balls, as they took their side past the hundred run mark.

Gardner was bowled by Sharma at the end of the 18th over, while Grace Harris (7) was bowled by Pandey halfway through the 19th as Australia fell to 148/4.

Ellyse Perry (2no) only faced two balls as Lanning hogged the strike over the final over and a half, which allowed her to smash two sixes and a four in the final over bowled by Singh as 18 came off it to give them the perfect finish.

AUSTRALIA: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (capt), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

INDIA: Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), Richa Ghosh (wk), Deepti Sharma, Yastika Bhatia, Sneh Rana, Shikha Pandey, Radha Yadav, Renuka Thakur

Advertisement