Australia’s coronation may have felt inevitable but their manner of victory and strength in depth are still remarkableIf 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...
All-rounder says England’s experience of pressure and the 2017 Lord’s win will help her team in the World Cup finalAfter the first three games it felt as if we were going to go home before the semis even started, and now here we are. We’re really excited to have got to the final of another World Cup. In our semi-final against South Africa, things fell into place and everything went how it should do. I can’t believe it was Sophie Ecclestone’s first five-for – she’s only 22 but she already feels like part of the furniture. And I’m always happy when Danni Wyatt scores runs!On the morning of the semi-final, 14 out of 17 of us went for brunch in...
Heather Knight’s side got the big moments right after three losses to turn things round and face Australia in Sunday’s finalMithali Raj and Smriti Mandhana, both world top-10 ODI batters, are at the crease. Mithali, the India captain, drives an in-swinger from Anya Shrubsole low to point, and the ball dips in front of Sophia Dunkley as she throws herself forward for the catch. The review captures Dunkley’s fingers beneath the ball: “I’m satisfied,” pronounces the third umpire. A wave of joy breaks over the gathered England fielders. They’re satisfied, too.Was this the moment England’s women turned their hitherto disastrous World Cup campaign around? Or was it in Shrubsole’s next over, when Kate Cross ran from cover to mid-off and...
Australia are on an 11-match winning run, can score deep into the innings and have enviable strength in their bowlingOn one side of Sunday’s upcoming World Cup final is the inevitable. In 50-over cricket, the Australians march on like Darth Vader: more machine now than human, twisted and evil. You could argue that’s overstated, but they do have an imposing relentlessness. After having their world record winning streak of 26 matches broken back in September, Australia immediately set about building the next one. It currently sits at 11, including an unblemished eight wins through this cup campaign. Their semi-final against West Indies was a thrashing.On the other side of the coin is the unlikely. A few months ago the defending...
Talismanic bowler has helped turn around hers and England’s World Cup prospects, mirroring the story of her early yearsThe latest edition of the Indian Premier League kicks off this weekend. It poses some interesting questions. The IPL is gripping, high-grade stuff. Like me you may well end up watching every second of it, even as you complain loudly about the fact that, oh look, you’re watching every second of it.But starting again? Really? Was there an extended period in the last two years where you could say with any real certainty that the IPL had actually stopped? Perhaps in future it might be easier to assume, unless specifically stated otherwise, that the IPL is still going on. That somewhere in...