Australia’s coronation may have felt inevitable but their manner of victory and strength in depth are still remarkable
If there was a sense of the inevitable to Australia’s coronation as Women’s World Cup champions, the manner in which they got there was still enough to make jaws drop. Alyssa Healy had form lighting up big stages, with her fast 75 at the MCG two years ago setting up a win in the T20 World Cup final. In this tournament the opening bat had 50 overs to play with, and ended up using 46 of them. The result was a monolith of 170 runs, a single innings that was bigger than some teams in the tournament managed with 11.
Granted, Natalie Sciver responded with her own special performance, a 148 not out that ended up as one of the great lone-hand innings and kept a glimmer of a chance alive for England until the 10th wicket fell. The difference was the support from other players that Healy got, carrying Australia to 356, and that Sciver didn’t, leaving England 72 runs short of their target. In the end, Sciver’s more important influence on the day may have been the catch she dropped at midwicket with Healy on 41.
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