The Australian women’s cricket team is known as much for its ability to pull off wins from hopeless places as it is for its sheer dominance in the women’s game. The second ODI against England at the Junction Oval in Melbourne was a fitting example of the former. The Alyssa Healy-led side successfully defended 180, the lowest-ever at this venue, against a wasteful English side to take a 4-0 lead in the Women’s Ashes, with a game to go in the ODI leg of the multi-format tour.
England made Australia bat first on a green wicket that looked conducive to a fair amount of early movement for the pacers. But Healy and Phoebe Litchfield mixed up aggression with caution, taking England’s new ball pace duo head on – the Australian captain smacking Lauren Filer for three boundaries in the second over of the day a bold example of the same. Filer required heaps of sawdust to steady the moist surface after falling over while bowling.
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Ellyse Perry’s
| Photo Credit:
Robert Cianflone
Ellyse Perry’s
| Photo Credit:
Robert Cianflone
Healy fell for a 19-ball 29, while Litchfield struggled to middle the ball with tricky lines from the visitors.
The English management puzzlingly introduced their trump card Sophie Ecclestone only in the 18th over and she got to work instantly, removing Litchfield for a 50-ball 29. Ellyse Perry took charge, stitching partnerships first with Litchfield and then with Mooney to keep the scoreboard ticking. Her measured 74-ball 60 would make all the difference in what ended up being a low-scoring thriller.
From 100/2 after Litchfield’s dismissal, Australia folded for 180 in 44.3 overs – the first time since 2013 that this Australian side has been bowled out for less than 200 while batting first. A 51-ball stand between Kim Garth and Alana King towards the end, worth 19 runs, was the only resistance to England’s spin barrage. Ecclestone finished with four wickets giving away just 35 runs in her 10 overs. Alice Capsey played able second fiddle taking three wickets for 22 runs in seven overs.
Garth got the defence off to a positive start, removing the openers before the sixth over. Nat Sciver-Brunt and England captain Heather Knight stitched a crucial 41-run in 64 balls to calm the nerves before Knight fell to Ash Garnder. King took out Danni Wyatt-Hodge for a golden duck and Sciver-Brunt a few overs later, leaving England between a rock and a hard place.
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Amy Jones and Capsey tried to grind out the menacing Aussie seam-spin cocktail with a 36-ball partnership off 77 balls for the sixth wicket. Garth trapped Capsey leg before off the first ball of the 36th over with Jones struggling to find support to pull off a win.
King made matters worse by removing Charlie Dean and Ecclestone off consecutive balls in the 39th over. Jones led the way, inching to a half century herself. She lost Filer along the way.
Sophie Ecclestone (c)
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
Sophie Ecclestone (c)
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
The equation came down to 28 runs needed from the last three overs for England with just one wicket in hand. The drama even got to Annabel Sutherland who bowled two waist-high no balls and had to be removed from bowling. Jones made the mistake to not run off the last ball of the over to retain strike, leaving Lauren Bell to deal with Megan Schutt’s wily swing.
Schutt castled Bell off the very next ball with Jones watching helplessly at the other end as Australia sealed the ODI leg with an unassailable 2-0 lead.
The Ashes caravan will move to Hobart for the final ODI. In the Women’s Ashes, it is the ultimate trophy that counts, which is given to the team with the most points at the end of the multi-format tour. Each of the white ball fixtures earn the winning team two points (12 points on offer from the ODIs and T20Is). A victory in the one-off Test is worth four points.
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