Ellyse Perry stood tall when it mattered the most as she came up trumps with the bat as six-time champions Australia held their nerves, paced the innings well and beat India by 6 wickets to knock them out of the competition. Ellyse Perry bowled only one over with the ball in hand. India batted first and, thanks to their captain Harmanpreet Kaur’s aggressive half-century, managed to get to 170/4 in 20 overs, which was a competitive score.
But Australia recovered from early jitters through Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner as they shared a century run stand for the 4th wicket to upstage India by 6 wickets with 6 overs to spare. Shree Charani picked up 2 wickets again, but a lack of support from the other end meant the Aussies cruised past the finishing line.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s aggressive half-century helped India post a competitive 170/4 in 20 overs
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Smriti Mandhana and Shafali Verma came out to open the batting for India, while Lucy Hamilton started the proceedings for Australia. India got off to a steady start courtesy of their openers. It was not a flying start but a steady one at that. Australia bowled tight lines and lengths, and India managed to keep them at bay as well. The openers took India to 43/0 in 6 overs.
The duo tried to accelerate, but Australia kept a tight leash on them. The openers managed to put on 66 for the first wicket in 9 overs, with Shafali looking a tad more aggressive than Smriti. At the score of 66, Shafali fell for 34 off 26 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes to her name as she was clean bowled by Australian captain Sophie Molineux. Jemimah Rodrigues came out to bat next and started to get things going forward.
The top 3 Indian batters got starts, but none pushed on. Jemimah and Smriti tried to forge a partnership and added 17 runs for the second wicket before Mandhana was unfortunately run out for 38 off 37 balls with 6 fours to her name by Lucy Hamilton. Captain Harmanpreet Kaur came out to bat next. Harmanpreet Kaur and Rodrigues tried to forge a stand again and took the team forward.
Australia did not get the breakthroughs, never allowed India to get away, as India was too safe with their approach, it seemed. The duo of Kaur and Rodrigues added 64 runs for the third wicket before Rodrigues retired out for 34 off 28 balls with one four and one six to her name. Keeper batter Richa Ghosh came out to bat with India at 147/3 in 19 overs. Richa took a single and got to the other end.
Harmanpreet tried to take it on and hit some monstrous hits as she hit 18 runs in the next 3 balls with huge sixes out of the ground, as she reached fifty as well, her first in this tournament. The duo put on 19 runs in 5 balls before Kaur fell for 56 off 27 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes to her name to Molineux. Deepti Sharma came out to bat next and hit a boundary on the first and the last ball of the innings. India finished with 170/4 in 20 overs with Richa unbeaten on 1 off 1 ball and Deepti unbeaten on 4 off 1 ball. 3 extras given by the fielding side.
Sophie Molineux picked up 2/46 in 4 overs. The others remained wicketless. Lucy Hamilton finished with 0/17 in 3 overs. Kim Garth finished with 0/24 in 3 overs. Ashleigh Gardner finished with 0/25 in 3 overs. Ellyse Perry finished with 0/7 in 1 over. Georgia Wareham finished with 0/16 in 3 overs. Annabel Sutherland finished with 0/35 in 4 overs. This meant Australia needed a record run chase of 171 runs in 20 overs and knock India out of the World Cup.
Ellyse Perry & Ashleigh Gardner’s swashbuckling half-centuries guided Australia over the line with an over to spare
Chasing 171 for the win, Georgia Voll and keeper batter Beth Mooney came out to bat for Australia while Renuka Singh Thakur started the proceedings for India. Voll started with a bang with a boundary, but Renuka hit back by getting him plumb in front LBW for 4 off 2 balls, a boundary to her name on review by India. Phoebe Litchfield came out to bat next. Litchfield and Mooney got together and, unlike the Indian batters, took the attack to the bowlers as Australia showed better intent.
Both Mooney and Litchfield got starts and helped Australia recover from an early jolt, and took the Southern Stars to 49/1 in 6 overs of power play. Mooney and Litchfield were looking good and added exactly 50 runs for the second wicket and took the score to 54 before the last ball of the 7th over got the wicket. Litchfield, who got a start, fell for 24 off 25 balls with 2 fours and one six to her name to Shree Charani. Ellyse Perry came out to bat next.
Mooney and Perry, the two experienced campaigners, got together and tried to forge some sort of a partnership to keep Australia going steadily. The duo added 14 runs for the third wicket before keeper batter Mooney fell for 22 off 20 balls, with 2 fours to her name, to Deepti Sharma. Ashleigh Gardner came out to bat next at 68/3 in the 10th over and at the end of 10 overs, Australia were 72/3 in 10 overs needing 99 off 60 balls with 7 wickets in hand.
Many teams might have fumbled on this situation, but not Australia. From hereon, the second half of the chase was the Ellyse Perry-Ashleigh Gardner show as the duo put on a clinic against the hapless Indian bowling line-up. Indians lacked teeth and ideas, and Australia just ran away with the contest. The duo just paced the innings to perfection, never panicked and stayed ahead of the rate.
They brought the required rate down with Perry playing the role of anchor while Gardner took on the bowling and got her rewards by taking the game away from India. The duo brought the equation down to 46 off 30 balls and from there it was just a cakewalk for the Aussies. India did not know what hit them, and the celebrations began in the South African camp as they were watching this game with abated breath.
The equation never got out of hand as Perry reached her fifty as the Indians wilted under pressure. Gardner reached her fifty as well in quick time as the duo brought up their century stand in 57 balls. The duo put on exactly 100 runs for the 4th wicket to bring Australia closer to the finishing line. But with 3 needed for the win, Perry fell to Charani for 56 off 38 balls with 8 fours to her name.
Georgia Wareham came out to bat next. She came and hit the second ball she faced for a boundary down the ground to end the game. Wareham remained unbeaten on 4 off 2 balls while Gardner remained unbeaten on 53 off 29 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes to her name as Australia finished with 172/4 in 19 overs with 9 extras given by the fielding side.
Shree Charani was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 2/32 in 4 overs. Deepti Sharma finished with 1/31 in 4 overs as she got to 356 International wickets in women’s cricket, which is a record. Renuka Singh Thakur finished with figures of 1/41 in 4 overs. Shafali Verma finished with figures of 0/29 in 4 overs. Kranti Gaud bowled an over for 12 runs. Radha Yadav bowled 2 overs and gave away 24 runs. So, Australia beat India by 6 wickets with an over to spare to knock the Women in Blue out of the tournament. Ellyse Perry was named the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead
Our semi-finals line-up is decided now, with England and the West Indies qualifying from Group B, while Australia and South Africa qualify from Group A. The first semi-final will be between Australia and the West Indies live from the Oval in London on 30th June at 7 PM IST, while the second semi-final will feature the hosts England up against South Africa on 2nd July at 11 PM IST. Both matches are at the Oval in London. The winners will go to Lord’s for next Sunday’s final.
So, we are done with a gruelling group stage of the tournament as 30 matches came to an end. It’s now time for the knockout stage to begin.
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