England deprive Australia their 5th consecutive win; beat them in last-over thriller

Electing to bat first, England posted 259 runs in their 50 overs and in reply, Australia came really close to the chase down the target, but in the end fell just 3 runs short.

The match between the Ashes rivals turned out to be a thriller in the end, and it were the hosts England who won it by 3 runs to hand Australia their first defeat in ICC Women’s World Cup 2017. Electing to bat first, England posted 259 runs in their 50 overs. In reply, Australia came painfully close to the chase down the target, but in the end fell a mere 3 runs short.

When Australia needed 91 runs to chase off the last 10 overs and with 7 wickets in hand, they were the favourites. They were on track, scoring 37 runs in the next 5 overs for the loss of just one wicket. Then came the twist as Katherine Brunt, in her 8th over, got rid of both the set batters. First, she cleaned up Alex Blackwell and then she picked up the priced wicket of Ellyse Perry (70) to turn the match upside down. In the very next over, Alyssa Healy smashed Danielle Hazell for a six and two boundaries, before she was dismissed in the same over by Hazell.

The match kept swinging from one end to another and, eventually, Australia needed 16 runs to get off the final over. Even though Jess Jonassen smacked a couple of boundaries, she wasn’t able to get her team over the line as they lost the match by a whisker.

Earlier in the day, England were off to a poor start having lost Lauren Winfield for just 6 runs on the board. After the early loss, it was the pair of Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont, who stabilised the innings with a 46-run partnership. Sarah Taylor batted really well and took the attack to the Australian bowlers as she scored 35 off 33 balls. Just when the partnership was looking good from England’s point of view, it was broken by Kristen Beams, who got rid of Taylor. The leg-spinner then struck in her very next over and also got the England skipper Heather Knight back in the pavilion.

The two quick wickets helped Australia to tighten the screws. Just when England crossed the 100-run mark, Elyse Villani picked up another wicket, that of Natalie Sciver. Beaumont was still batting out there, and she was accompanied by Danielle Wyatt, who came out all guns blazing. The two added 50 runs for the fifth-wicket partnership and gave the momentum that England required going into the last 10 overs.

Australia’s bowling was also wayward as they bowled as many as 23 wides and conceded 32 extra runs in total. In the death overs, it was the pair of Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn, who provided their team with a perfect finish as they scored 42 runs in the last 5 overs and helped their team to post a challenging total of 259 runs.

Brief scores:

England Women 259 for 8 in 50 overs (Tammy Beaumont 49, Katherine Brunt 45*; Elyse Villani 3 for 42) beat Australia Women 256 for 8 in 50 overs (Ellyse Perry 70, Meg Lanning 40; Katherine Brunt 2 for 42) by 3 runs.

Player of the Match: Katherine Brunt