Australia march into final
Australia entered the Women’s World Cup final with their fifth
successive win in the tournament, completing a nine-wicket demolition of
Sri Lanka with 27.4 overs to spare. Jodie Fields asked Sri Lanka to bat
in the morning, and set attacking fields for her bowlers throughout. All
six bowlers responded with wickets, the offspinner Erin Osborne
returning remarkable figures of 10-6-9-3 after seamer Julie Hunter’s
6-3-6-1.
Australia’s batting, which has been a source of concern, had little
trouble getting to the target of 132, with the openers Rachael Haynes
and Meg Lanning drowning Sri Lanka’s remaining hopes in a flood of
boundaries.
An hour into their innings, Sri Lanka were in trouble at 41 for 4 and
had it not been for a face-saving stand between Deepika Rasangika and
Dilani Manodara, they would have struggled to get to 100. Fields did not
let them get too far beyond that mark.
The Australia captain was relentless in her pursuit of wickets,
crowding the inner circle with fielders through the innings. One of the
few times she had the maximum permissible four fielders in the deep was
when the hard-hitting Eshani Kaushalya came in. The pressure of trying
to beat the infield led to the regular fall of Sri Lanka wickets.
Australia triumphed despite their lead seamer Ellyse Perry missing her
second successive game, this time due to an ankle injury.
Megan Schutt did not need any help from her fielders in getting the
opening breakthrough. Yasoda Mendis pushed tentatively at an incoming
delivery and was bowled through the gate. Chamari Atapattu tried to go
hard over mid-off but chose a slower one to do that, and could not clear
the field. Holly Ferling, the 17-year old quick, struck in her opening
spell again, sending back Sri Lanka captain Shashikala Siriwardene who
nudged one down leg to the wicketkeeper Fields.
The Australian captain kept the field up after the opening Powerplay,
and also left cover vacant to invite the drive against the offspin of
Lisa Sthalekar. Sandamali Dolawatte went for the stroke to a flighted
one, and a delighted Fields snapped up the edge. There was turn and
bounce for the spinners but Surangika responded the way she had played
against India. She lofted the seamers down the ground, swatted them
through extra cover and also cut hard. Batting with a cap on, she even
hooked the pacy Ferling to the deep square leg rope.
Rasangika was put down by Sarah Coyte off her own bowling on 22, but
Australia restricted the partnership to 49 as Schutt had Rasangika
caught on 43 at short extra cover with the fifth ball of her second
spell in the 31st over. Manodara, who had edged Coyte twice past the
slips for four, fell in the next over as she tried to hit Osborne over
mid-on, Schutt backpedalling to take a well-judged catch.
Kaushalya, who had shocked England and India with her powerful hits,
did not hang around for too long. She slog-swept her fourth delivery
from Osborne and Alex Blackwell took a low catch diving forward at
midwicket. After some resistance from the tail, Sri Lanka were all out
for 131.
Australia’s opening pair rendered the game even more one-sided as
they added 55 in under 10 overs. Lanning played out a maiden first up to
Udeshika Prabodhani, and was on 1 off 14 before she cut loose. Drives,
pulls, cuts, and a straight six appeared in no time as she raced to 37
off 36 before cutting one to slip.
Haynes took over, piercing the off-side field with numerous drives as
Sri Lanka’s fielding fell apart. She hit a couple over the advertising
boards at long-on for six before bringing up the win with another cover
drive for four. She was on 71 off just 61 by then, and Australia were in
their seventh World Cup final in nine attempts.
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