Matters got underway yesterday when the home side took on their co-hosts Sri Lanka in the distant north. Reduced to six down for not very much, India faced embarrassment. But dropped catches lose matches, and there were plenty thereafter. It ended up a comfortable victory for India, largely through the all-round efforts of Deepti Sharma. In Madhya Pradesh – home apparently to female revolutionaries in the legendary past – Australia (reigning champions) took on New Zealand (reigning T20 champions). After the briefest of looks at the pitch of baked mud, the lightning outfield and some shortish boundaries, Healy wasted no time in deciding to bat.
It looked a 300 pitch, at the very least; but so effortlessly did Australia commence that they reached 1/81 at the end of the power play. The sole casualty was Healy, who lost patience after a thoughtful 19 and holed out to cover point from Illing: a promising left-arm swing bowler. The bulk of the runs were achieved by Litchfield, who raced to 45 from 30 without noticeably incommoding herself. She was granted a goodly serving of half-volleys, and wasted none of them. Who’re you gonna call? Why, Amelia Kerr, naturally. Who else? Her first delivery was a googly to Litchfield, who played all over it and lost her off-stump.
Thereafter Mooney and Perry played Kerr and Tahuhu with circumspection. On 29 Perry edged a flighted leg-spinner just past Gaze’s gloves. Not only did the stumper fail to catch it, the ball disappeared to the boundary. Then, feeling she should be getting on with things, Perry attempted a lofted swipe and hit it straight to Suzie Bates at mid-off. Sutherland whacked Kerr for a boundary, and three balls later hit one straight to Bates again. At 4/114 Australia were on the brink of a crevasse. It is a pitch for circumspection after all, it would seem. There is no pace in it, and attempting to force the ball is a recipe for mishap.
It was a lesson Mooney failed to embrace, and she lofted a slower ball from Tahuhu straight to Kerr at mid-off. With half the side back in the shed, it was time for a drastic reappraisal. McGrath struggled to 26 before tamely chipping Tahuhu to Kerr at mid-wicket. By this point the battle-scarred seamer had 3/20 (from 5 overs) on a pitch offering her very little. By varying her pace and trajectory she confounded the women in yellow. All save Gardner, who had adapted to the pitch by waiting for the ball and watching it right onto her bat. She hammered a six during an over of carnage from Amelia Kerr and dashed past her half-century.
Sophie Molineux has rarely batted as low as no.8. She has battled injuries that would have seen anyone else take the hint and retire. Molineux is hardly the retiring type. She got off the mark with a crisp boundary and a six which just cleared the despairing fielder, and settled in to give Gardner needful support. Alas, she too joined the ranks of the terminally impatient and holed out to long-on from the perspiring Jess Kerr. At this point Australia had reached 7/239, with Gardner on 77 from 57. Her thoughts can only be conjectured. Yes, we can still make 300. But not if we get bowled out. Will somebody please think about staying with me?
As it transpired Australia was bowled out. But not until the final over, and with a score of 326. So well did Kim Garth bat at no.9 that Gardner was able to complete a brilliant century. Garth made a run-a-ball 38, largely through waiting for the ball to arrive instead of seeking it out with hammers and bludgeons. For New Zealand the Kerr sisters shared five wickets. Tahuhu got her three, and Suzie Bates took four catches in the field. Both sides showed signs of rust. Yet the day was Gardner’s. Her 115 from 83 showed what could be accomplished. With dew incoming, you felt 326 was no more than par.
Australia began with Garth’s bustling mediums and Molineux’s crafty left-arm spin, and the Kiwis were at once in dire straits. Plimmer run-out for a diamond duck, and Bates flummoxed by Molineux and losing her stumps. Two down for nothing? The veterans Devine and Kerr stabilised matters until drinks, taken at 2/62 from 16. Brown had erred in length and been punished, but King’s two overs had gone for just a single and two leg-byes. Something would have to be done, with the required rate creeping inexorably towards eight an over.
Just to make life harder, Gardner came on with her quickish off-breaks and kept the brakes firmly on. Kerr drove impulsively at a flighted leg-break from King and lofted it straight to Litchfield at extra cover. The expected dew having failed to materialise, and with the pitch starting to keep low, Halliday’s struggles were terrible to behold. When the asking rate reached ten she launched King for a six and a four, and followed up by picking out Litchfield on the leg boundary. Devine meanwhile had troubles of her own. She had managed a scratchy fifty without really managing to tee off. She finally got hold of the niggling line and length of Garth; and at drinks New Zealand were 4/146, still needing ten an over, with Devine on 70. If she could somehow break the chains, then her team still clung to the merest whisper of a chance.
After a brisk 20 Maddy Green managed to run herself out, having set off for a sharp single. Whether she called, or merely set out on her doom-laden quest mute of purpose, we are unable to tell. Devine was ball-watching and remained tragically oblivious to the unfolding disaster. Shrugging all this off, she greeted the return of Brown with four successive boundaries and roared into the nineties. Isabella Gaze joyfully hopped into some loose offerings from Brown and Gardner and the flame of hope refused to depart. Yet Molineux put an end to Gaze’s shenanigans and the end was nigh. Devine reached her century with a pair of sixes from Gardner, but Sutherland – who had kept her head and bowled into the pitch with slower balls – put an end to her mighty resistance. The rest was silence, as Sutherland and Molineux swept aside the remainder. Both had bowled brilliantly, adjusting to the idiosyncrasies of a pitch which contained more mischief than was at first apparent.
Australia won because of their greater depth. Depth is what wins World Cups. Australia has won seven of them. The rest of the world is still improving. So are the Australians.