Day: March 13, 2022

Dubai, March 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):Meg Lanning labelled Australia’s middle order as world class after they recovered from a stuttering start to beat New Zealand by 141 runs at the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022.

The six-time champions were restricted to 56 for three in Wellington and reached the halfway stage with just 97 runs on the board, as New Zealand’s bowlers did a brilliant job of limiting boundaries.

But a pair of impressive half-centuries from Ellyse Perry (68) and Tahlia McGrath (57) set the platform for some late fireworks from Ashleigh Gardner who struck eight boundaries – including four sixes – in an 18-ball unbeaten 48 in her first game back from Covid isolation.

That helped Australia to 269 for eight and their new-ball bowlers ripped through the New Zealand top order, with teenage star Darcie Brown finishing with three for 22.

Amy Satterthwaite (44) was the only New Zealand batter to offer any resistance as the hosts fell to 128 all out and their second defeat from four matches.

And Lanning hailed a job well done by her batters and was pleased to see them dig deep and deliver the goods after a tough start.

“It was a crucial period in the game, we could have been under a little bit more pressure and that is the beauty of our batting line-up,” she said.

“We have a lot of depth and players who can rescue an innings. We set that platform to allow us to play like we did at the back end.

“It was great to have Ash back, it’s been a tough 10 days for her but she has come back incredibly well and I’m looking forward to the rest of the tournament for her.

“It gave us the momentum going into the second innings, we felt it was a good score but not necessarily a match-winning one. We knew we had to take some early wickets and we went in hard to try and get a few key batters out and that’s what happened.

“We had a really tough selection today, obviously Jess Jonassen missed out and she is a world-class bowler who has done extremely well for us over a period of time.

“But we felt like that extra pace option was the way to go and it worked up front. On another day, it might not but that is the way we have to look at every game at this World Cup.”

New Zealand now have a break after a busy first nine days and don’t play again until they meet South Africa on Thursday.

Their record of two wins and two defeats shows they are a team full of promise but also lack consistency and captain Sophie Devine again highlighted their batting.

The White Ferns slipped from 22 for no loss to 35 for five and they could not recover from there failing to make use of their bowlers’ strong work.

“The batting was poor. We saw with the way Amy [Satterthwaite] tried to bat through there, you can take your time. Australia set the blueprint, if you take your time then you can cash in. We just weren’t able to,” she said.

“We showed why I wanted to bowl first, we thought if we could contain them and take some wickets we could put the pressure on.

“It just goes to show the quality of that Australia side, we had them three or four down and the run-rate under control but they launched into the last 10 overs and it was too much for us today.

“You can’t take anything away from Ash, it was a combination of brilliant batting and poor bowling. The way she struck the ball today was outstanding and she was smart about it too, in Wellington if you get it up in the air it can carry another 20 or 30 metres further.

“We have seen in this tournament that 250 or 260 seems to be par and they got 270. We knew this wicket is a good cricket wicket and the outfield is true and fast. We thought if we could keep wickets in hand, it was a chase we could get.”

New Zealand now have a few days off and Devine says the break comes at the perfect time before they attack the second half of their campaign.

“It has been a full-on schedule but we knew that coming into it,” she added.

“It is nice for us to get an extra day off, which we will use well. It is important for us to take a couple of days away and reflect, we have obviously got South Africa on Thursday which is a huge game for us and we are looking forward to it.”

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com

Dubai, March 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):It’s not how you start but how you finish in ODI cricket and no team finishes better with the bat than Australia.

The six-time champions have batted first in two of their three ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 matches and both times they have scored at least 100 runs in the final 10 overs.

In their opener, Australia’s late hitting was able to put the game just out of reach as England fell 12 runs short in their chase of a mammoth 311.

While in Wellington today, Australia’s flurry of late runs seemed to kill any spirit New Zealand had as they succumbed to a 141-run defeat despite a promising start with the ball. Everyone else, take note: to beat Australia, limiting late runs is key.

With 10 overs remaining of their innings against England, Australia were 210 for one with Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes supremely comfortable as their partnership ticked over to 175.

Australia were able to benefit from untidy bowling from England, Katherine Brunt conceding three extras off the 41st over on top of the nine runs Australia made all by themselves.

Brunt fought back to dismiss Lanning for 86 but things didn’t get any easier as Beth Mooney made Kate Cross toil. Her and Haynes took 15 runs off the seamer and it was a sign of how things were going for England that Nat Sciver only conceding five singles in one over was a blessed relief.

It was, however, only temporary as the final five overs all went for eight runs or more, Sophie Ecclestone’s last over the worst of the lot as she conceded 15.

While England’s bowling seemed foolhardy, New Zealand were unluckier, coming up against three of the best all-rounders in world cricket who all just happened to wear green and gold.

First up were Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath, the master and the apprentice. They started the final 10 overs with a partnership of 51 already established but this time Australia had recovered from a shaky start to sit pretty on 164 for four.

Hayley Jensen bowled two dots in the 41st over but they were combined with two fours, a no-ball four and a six, plus a single for good measure. It was ominous viewing for anyone who had been paying attention last Saturday.

Lea Tahuhu and Amelia Kerr were able to restrain the pair to seven and eight runs an over before the batters brought up their century stand from 96 balls.

Perry, 31, was dismissed by a moment of brilliance by Maddy Green in the field but a drop might have been less painful for the White Ferns.

Ashleigh Gardner strode out to the middle for her first innings in almost two weeks having spent 10 days in isolation after testing positive for Covid on the eve of the tournament.

The naturally gifted Gardner wasted no time getting settled despite the lack of gametime and, though she may be 5’6 tall, the 24-year-old reminded everyone she is very much a superhuman.

She cut her first ball for four to get off the mark before really finding her stride, even as McGrath, Alana King and Amanda-Jade Wellington fell around her.

She clobbered Hannah Rowe for successive maximums and then for good measure slashed two fours and a six off Tahuhu in the final over to bring up a breakneck 48 from 18 deliveries.

Australia ended on 269 for eight and 105 of those runs came from the final 60 balls as Gardner produced the highest strike rate for a score of over 30 runs in a women’s ODI with a mind-boggling 266.66. New Zealand, by contrast, collapsed to 128 all out.

The result was not just a significant one in terms of the World Cup. It also brought up a ton of ODI victories in ODIs for Australia against New Zealand, the most wins against a single team in one-day cricket by any side, male or female.

With a record of 31 wins in their previous 132 ODIs against Australia, history was always against New Zealand. Today the game was sealed because Perry, McGrath and Gardner were all against them too.

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com

Dubai, March 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):The West Indies have been fined 40 per cent of their match fee for maintaining a slow over-rate against India in their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 match in Hamilton on Saturday.

Shandre Fritz of the Emirates ICC International Panel of Match Referees imposed the sanction after Stafanie Taylor’s side was ruled to be two overs short of the target after time allowances were taken into consideration.

In accordance with Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 20 per cent of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl in the allotted time.

Taylor pleaded guilty to the offence and accepted the proposed sanction, so there was no need for a formal hearing.

On-field umpires Eloise Sheridan and Paul Wilson, third umpire Ahmed Shah Pakteen and fourth umpire Ruchira Palliyaguruge levelled the charge.

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com

Dubai, March 13, 2022 (PPI-OT):After England’s bowling was questioned following each of their two ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 defeats, seamer Kate Cross believes she and her teammates just need to stick to Plan A against South Africa.

England’s bowlers shipped 310 runs against Australia before more wayward bowling against the West Indies saw them miss out in another narrow loss.

The defending champions have now made it to Tauranga where they will face a South Africa team who are yet to really get going with the bat, despite winning both of their matches.

Cross said: “As a bowling unit, it’s just really important that we remember why we’ve been so successful in the past 18 months, and we probably might have gone away from those plans a little bit too soon.

“You’ve got to bowl your best ball for as long as you can really in one-day cricket, but Katherine [Brunt] and Anya [Shrubsole] have obviously got a record that speaks for itself and they have been a perfect example of this in the World Cup final, they’ll come into their own when we absolutely need them.

“An exciting thing for me is that we’ve not quite seen our bowling unit at its absolute best yet, so when we can start stringing performances together in terms of the batting unit and the bowling unit and the fielding unit together, then we stand ourselves in good stead to start getting some wins on the board.”

Cross is making her debut at a World Cup at the age of 30, and while the experience is still new, she is enjoying feeling at home in Mount Maunganui.

“It’s a bit odd to say that I’m 30 years old and it’s my first World Cup, but it’s been a strange one,” she said.

“Obviously, it’s not really been the start that we wanted and I think you come to these tournaments and you really want those big moments because you know that all eyes are on you.

“We’ve not had that as a team yet and personally I’ve not had those moments myself yet, so I just want to make sure that I’m doing my role for the team as best as I can, and as long as I can.

“But it’s been brilliant, it’s obviously great to tour New Zealand as well, it’s such a gorgeous country.

“We’ve really enjoyed the places we’ve been to so far and the Mount in particular, it’s a favourite of a lot of the girls so it’s been nice to be here for a couple of days and we’ve got two games here back-to-back. It’s nice to spend some time in a part of a country that we love.”

Cross was not involved when England defeated South Africa to reach the 2017 final, and while Proteas captain Sune Luus was on the losing side, she is not thinking of getting revenge.

She said: “A lot has happened in those five years. Both teams have grown, the players’ games have changed, so I don’t think we need to look too much into that semi-final.

“It’s five years ago and that’s a lot in the cricketing career, tomorrow’s a new game, a whole new stage, new World Cup as well, we’ll just take it as it is.”

Despite two wins, South Africa have more to give and Luus is now preparing her team to face an England side with nothing to lose.

“With England losing two games, you have got to expect that they’re going to come hard tomorrow. I don’t think they’re going to leave anything to chance,” Luus said.

“I think they’re going to come all guns blazing and they’re going to want to play their best match to get points on the board. But I do think that puts a bit of pressure on them.

“They need the points, but I think we’re ready for tomorrow as well. I think if we get the points that will really just give us the momentum that we need to just keep continuing in the World Cup and take one game at a time.”

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
International Cricket Council (ICC)
Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
Website: www.icc-cricket.com