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Ever get the feeling of deja vu? At Indore on Wednesday, Australia took up where they had left off at the MCG in January: Alana King bowled unplayable balls, Annabel Sutherland and Ash Gardner piled on the runs and one side left the other for dust. It is the World Cup instead of the Ashes, but the result – a six-wicket win by the Aussies, with 57 balls to spare – was horribly familiar.
Sutherland’s contribution to this World Cup had been limited to being the tournament’s leading wicket-taker. At Indore, she again showcased her variations, getting a hint of away movement to clip the top of Amy Jones’s off stump, before removing Tammy Beaumont and Emma Lamb with her slower ball. Her three for 60, and a 10-over spell from King that went for 20, ensured England put 244 on the board.
England saw a glimmer of hope after Australia wobbled to 68 for four, with Linsey Smith again making inroads in the powerplay. But Sutherland, who had failed to get out of single figures in four previous matches this tournament, snatched that hope away. Her unbeaten 98 was bettered only by the supremely powerful ball-striking of Gardner, who took 22 balls to transform her half-century into a ton.
Such was Australia’s dominance that Gardner, having brought up her century with four runs needed for the win, defended three balls from Lauren Bell to try to enable Sutherland to reach her own three-figure milestone. Sutherland chose to run a single, allowing Gardner to strike the winning boundary.
Both teams have already qualified for the semi-finals, but Australia are in pole position to top the group, assuming they beat South Africa on Saturday. England will play the loser of that game in their semi-final, regardless of the result in their final group-stage match against New Zealand on Sunday.
This was England’s first loss, but the theme of their campaign came back to haunt them: a weak middle. This time it spoke to a phase of play, rather than the batting line-up – England scored 26 runs between the 20th and 30th overs and managed three boundaries between overs 21 and 40.
That was partly testament to King’s skilful leg-spin deliveries – one of which Nat Sciver-Brunt miscued to Sutherland at mid-off – but it perhaps also reflected some lingering nervousness in the England line-up after their two best batters, Sciver-Brunt and Heather Knight, departed early.
Beaumont, who had recovered some form and looked well-set for three figures, ended up trying to force the pace: she failed to read Sutherland’s slower ball and was caught at long-on for 78.
The catcher was Georgia Voll, playing in her first match of the World Cup after Alyssa Healy was forced out because of injury. Apparently, the rugby ball Voll had spent hours twirling on the bench had warmed her up for her big moment: the former Queensland-U18 rugby league player leaped in the air, overbalanced, and was able to parry the ball back in and take it at the second attempt.
Australia’s bowlers had been uncharacteristically wayward early on – Beaumont got her teeth into a free hit after Kim Garth overstepped, fetching her down the ground for six – as England put on 55 runs in the opening eight overs. At the back end, Alice Capsey and Charlie Dean added some much-needed impetus – Capsey finally coming to the party after Sutherland ran out of steam.
The problem was the moments in between: Sciver-Brunt having a rare rush-of-blood moment against King; Emma Lamb bowled through the gate by another Sutherland slower ball; and a ghastly bit of cricket from Sophia Dunkley, who charged down the track to Ash Gardner, got nowhere near the ball, and tripped over her own legs in a fruitless effort to get back into her crease.
At that point Alyssa Healy was spotted grinning and dancing in the dugout. That she had earlier run on drinks suggests her calf injury is none too serious and that she will probably be back on the field to celebrate as Australia charge on, two wins away now from what already feels like another inevitable world title.
