Day: April 3, 2022

Dubai, April 03, 2022 (PPI-OT):Heather Knight took major pride in England’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup fight despite falling short in the final against Australia. The defending champions were undone by a classy Australia performance, Alyssa Healy’s 170 catapulting the winners to 356 for five having been put into bat. England were bowled out 71 runs short as they embarked on a world record chase but Knight believes Nat Sciver’s brave 148 not out was emblematic of their campaign in New Zealand.

“I’m very disappointed,” the captain said. “I’m really proud of Nat and the fight she put on obviously to give us a chance to win and we, unfortunately, didn’t have anyone with her to be able to really maximise two set batters.

“I think credit to Australia, the way they played in the final was pretty amazing. They made it very tricky for us to set fields, it was a very good wicket and that innings by Alyssa was outstanding. One of the best I’ve certainly seen live. “I’m obviously disappointed but I think we can take a lot of pride in what we’ve done as a group, the way we’ve fought throughout the competition to be in this position and the way we fought tonight.”

England became the first team to reach the final having lost their first three games, fighting back with five must-win victories in a row, but came unstuck against a ruthless Australia. Sciver compiled the second-highest score ever made in a Women’s World Cup final, behind Healy, but was left stranded as Anya Shrubsole was dismissed by Jess Jonassen to see England bowled out for 285.

The vice-captain praised the start provided by her skipper and opener Tammy Beaumont as she explained her approach to the chase. Sciver said: “When you’re chasing 350-odd there is only really one way you can play it and I thought the batters already got us off to a really good start.

“I felt a bit scratchy at the start. Heather was hitting it nicely, I’ve stuck in and knew that I would be able to get one away. “When you’re chasing, the mentality of scoring runs takes care of itself really knowing that you need to be in there for a long time but also picking up boundaries where you can and luckily that seemed to come naturally.

“But it just got a bit too much.” England and Australia’s tournament came full circle after the eventual champions had also triumphed against Knight’s side in their opening group game.

And while Sciver – who also struck 109 not out in that clash – can take heart in her performance, she admitted going one step further would have been even sweeter. “After the first match getting so close, the disappointment was something that stuck with me, so getting a century against the top-ranked team was really special as well,” she added.

“It’s weird how it’s worked out, how it’s been against Australia, but with my batting over this tournament, I’ve felt pretty confident and probably not done as well as I had expected having felt that way. “It’s nice to end with a good score, but it would have been nicer to have a trophy.”

For more information, contact:
Headquarters,
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Street 69, Dubai Sports City,
Sh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road, Dubai, UAE
Phone: +97-143828800
Fax: +97-143828600
E-mail: enquiry@icc-cricket.com
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Dubai, April 03, 2022 (PPI-OT):Player of the Final Alyssa Healy believes Australia’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 victory is the final piece of the puzzle on their quest to be the best. Healy made the highest score ever seen in a World Cup final with 170 runs from 138 balls as Australia posted 356 for five.

Nat Sciver hauled England close with 148 not out, but Australia bowled them out 71 runs short to add the Women’s ODI trophy to the T20 crown they clinched in 2020. Australia were knocked out of the World Cup semi-finals five years ago by India and it set them up for their period of domination.

And Healy, 32, said: “I don’t think relief is the right word. “I think it’s just pride. I’m so proud of this group to be able to, I use the word reinvent, but whatever word you want to use, we came together as a squad and said: ‘This is how we want to play our cricket from now on and we’re going to be the best team in the world’

“For all 15 people in our squad – and the girls outside the squad that have come in and contributed to be able to buy into that, which has been unbelievable. “I think that’s a culture created by the lady sitting next to me [Captain Meg Lanning] and Rach [Vice-captain Rachael Haynes] and Motty [head coach Matthew Mott].

“I’m just really proud of this group to have done what we’ve done over the last five years and I think the trophy in our hands is just the final little piece of the puzzle that needed to happen.” Lanning agreed as she skippered her side to her first ODI World Cup as captain – the 30-year-old made only 10 in the final but ended the tournament on 394 runs, the fifth-most.

But there is no doubt of the relentless and ruthless culture that Lanning has created that saw them go undefeated in the tournament to now hold both World Cups and the ICC Women’s Championship, the first team to do so. The skipper said: “There’s no doubt that this is pretty high on the list. We obviously go out there to win every game we play but it’s not easy.

“If you’re playing against extremely good teams who are chasing you and they’re coming out to play their best cricket against us. “We’ve been able to really evolve as a group and play the style of cricket that we’ve spoken about. I think we’ve said how we wanted to play and how we wanted to operate us as a team.

“The thing that stands out for me and I’m really proud of is that we actually go out there and do it and I think we’ve really shown that through this tournament we have a really clear style of play and we want to take the game on and make it difficult for opposition teams.”

And while Australia led from start to finish in the tournament, Lanning admitted that Sciver again gave them a scare as she backed up her 109 not out in the opening group game with another mammoth ton in a losing cause.

“There were a few nervous moments, there’s no doubt about that. She also played an incredible innings,” Lanning added. “That was something really special and on another day that wins your team the game. We always felt under the pump a little bit while she was at the crease in particular.

“But we were able to get wickets at the right time, whenever they were able to build a partnership. We felt like we were able to break it. “We knew that if we could stick to our guns and just keep it really simple that it should have been enough.”

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, April 03, 2022 (PPI-OT):A smile never left Alyssa Healy’s face during the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 final – and why should it? The opening batter struck a record-breaking innings of 170 as her team were crowned champions for the seventh time in front of a packed Hagley Oval in Christchurch.

Healy strode out alongside Rachael Haynes having been put in to bat by England – and there would have been a glint in the eye for both with the conditions perfect for batting.

It was another patient start from Healy, emulating her innings against West Indies in the semi-final where she went on to make 129 and her maiden World Cup century.

At the end of the power play, Healy had 15 runs from 25 balls. Perhaps only the corners of her mouth were upturned at this point but as Charlie Dean came onto bowl two overs later, she surely broke into a broad grin. Dean was clearly singled out as the target of Australia’s boundary-making, even if she was a slightly unknown prospect – the only England player not to play when the two sides met in the round robin stages.

A wry smile may have crept across the 32-year-old’s face as she was put down by Nat Sciver on 41 before her fifty came from 62 balls, her sixth four seeing her past the milestone.

She would take another four off Kate Cross from the very next delivery before dancing down the track and smacking Dean for back-to-back boundaries to hit home to England that bad balls would be punished. Healy lost a partner, Haynes departing for 68, but not the ability to build partnerships, as Beth Mooney proved a more than able replacement.

Her hundred was brought up off exactly 100 balls, including 13 fours, as she became the only woman to score two centuries in the knockout stages of a World Cup. Healy removed her helmet to reveal a beaming smile as she was applauded by the Hagley Oval crowd.

Records tumbled as Healy kept putting England to the sword, easing past fellow Australian Karen Rolton’s score of 107 not out – the previous best knock in an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup final. The highest team total in a final would also go on to fall as Australia passed their own mark of 259 set in 2013, with the second 100 partnership of the innings being brought up off a single.

Healy then eased her way to 136 not out, the highest score of the World Cup and her best in ODI cricket – and remarkably she was still not done yet.

She survived being dropped again, this time by a soaring Tammy Beaumont who let the ball sail through both hands. The helmet stayed in place as Healy passed 150, but the bat was waved to all sides of Hagley Oval as she recorded the highest score in either a Men’s or Women’s World Cup final.

And there was time for yet another milestone before Healy had to depart, becoming the first woman to pass 500 runs in a single World Cup after ending the group stage on 210. Healy’s innings came to an end thanks to a remarkable piece of wicket-keeping from Amy Jones, one that would have inevitably delighted the fellow keeper if she was not the victim.

A small frustrated look at being dismissed soon turned to another grin as Healy departed the field having made 170 runs from 138 balls – including a staggering 26 fours – again cheered by all in Christchurch for her history-making, World Cup-winning knock. There would be time for more smiles as England attempted to chase down a record 357, once when Nat Sciver magically avoided directing the ball onto her own stumps.

Healy grabbed a stumping of her own to dismiss Katherine Brunt and reduce England to 191 for six, and though Sciver’s fine knock of 148 not out gave England a glimmer of hope, more flashes of Healy’s grin were to come. The first would appear as Ashleigh Gardner took the winning catch to earn Australia a 71-run victory and seventh World Cup title.

Healy smiled awkwardly as she earned the Player of the Tournament, as well as Player of the Match, award – gracious when collecting both as she heaped praise on her opening partner Haynes. The final abiding memory of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 will be the Australia team lifting the trophy aloft, with Healy front and centre grinning away.

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, April 03, 2022 (PPI-OT):Australia won their seventh ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup with a 71-run victory over England in Christchurch.

Alyssa Healy’s staggering innings of 170 saw Australia put on 356 for five as England’s bowlers had no answer to a batting master class, Anya Shrub sole’s three for 46 the only highlight for the defending champions.

Nat Sciver once again steered England’s reply by battling to her highest score in international cricket with 148 not out, but it proved in vain after Shrubsole was dismissed to hand Australia the trophy once more.

Having been put in to bat in the bright Hagley Oval sunshine, Australia were measured in the powerplay, taking 37 off the seam attack of Katherine Brunt, Shrubsole and Nat Sciver.

But the introduction of spin in the form of Charlie Dean proved Healy and Rachael Haynes’ cue to start finding the boundary regularly. England’s fielding errors – that had started in their opening group game against the same opponent -re-emerged as Haynes was dropped on 47 before Healy was put down on 41 in the same Kate Cross over.

As against the West Indies in the semi-final, Haynes’ half-century came first – off 69 balls – before Healy’s was brought up off 62 as they eased their way to the highest opening partnership in a World Cup final. Even as Dean continued to be targeted, spin made the breakthrough as Sophie Ecclestone took her 21st and final wicket of the tournament to dismiss Haynes for 68, Tammy Beaumont holding on to a mistimed shot as Haynes ended the World Cup on 497 runs.

The partnership had ended on 160 runs, but Healy built a new one with Beth Mooney who was promoted up the order from five. But first Healy became only the second woman to score a hundred in a World Cup final, going at a run a ball as she became the only player to score two centuries in the knockout stage of a World Cup.

And she then surpassed the highest score in a Women’s World Cup final as she moved to 111 with a four off Cross. More records came when Australia reached 260 for one to rack up the highest score in a World Cup final – with eight overs still to go.

Amy Jones twice sent the umpire upstairs to review stumping’s before she finally grabbed her wicket, stumping Healy who ended on a spectacular 170 from 138 balls – the highest individual score in a Men’s or Women’s World Cup final – with over 100 runs coming in boundaries. A packed Hagley Oval rose to applaud as Healy departed with Australia on 316 for two before another wicket came in Shrub sole’s over as Ashleigh Gardner was run out for one.

Meg Lanning, making her 100th ODI appearance, did not last too much longer as she departed for 10 before Mooney was out of the very next ball following a sparkling 62 from 47. New batter Tahlia McGrath negotiated the Shrubsole hat-trick ball as she and Ellyse Perry added 25 off the final 13 balls to see Australia post 356 for five.

In reply, England’s opening partnership failed to fire once again as Danni Wyatt was bowled by Megan Schutt for just four. Australia’s young seamer Darcie Brown was the target of England’s aggression, with Beaumont leading the charge until she was dismissed LBW by Schutt for 27 from 26 balls.

Sciver was again called upon to deliver against Australia, having made 109 not out in the group game, and this time her presence at the crease gave England faint hope. She saw an LBW overturned off the bowling of Alana King before partner and captain Heather Knight was given out the same way two balls later for 26.

Jones fell for 20 to end a promising partnership as England slipped to 129 for four before Sophia Dunkley was again part of an England rebuild. But she was bowled by King two balls after the fifty partnership was brought up, the leg-spinner extracting turn to bowl her round her legs for 23.

Brunt then went for one as Healy got a stumping of her own before Ecclestone departed for three, out LBW to McGrath. Jess Jonassen grabbed another caught and bowled against England as Cross went for only two to leave Knight’s side needing an unlikely 144 with only two wickets remaining.

Sciver was joined by Dean in time for her to bring up another brilliant century, coming off 90 balls with 10 fours and one six. The pair built a partnership of 65 before Dean holed out to Jonassen at third man attempting a reverse sweep.

Shrubsole, the hero in 2017 as England beat India in the final, was once again involved in the closing action as she was the final wicket to go, Gardner taking the winning catch as England fell 71 runs short with Sciver stranded on 148 not out.

Scores in brief

Australia beat England at Hagley Oval, Christchurch by 71 runs

Australia 356/5 in 50.0 overs (Alyssa Healy 170, Rachael Haynes 68; Anya Shrubsole 3/46, Sophie Ecclestone 1/71)

England 285 all out in 43.4overs (Nat Sciver 148 not out, Tammy Beaumont 27; Jess Jonassen 3/57, Alana King 3/64)

Player of the Match: Alyssa Healy (Australia)

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