That Australia went south of the Thames as red-hot favourites meant precisely nothing. The slate is wiped clean, and the race begins anew. There was consternation in the Caribbean camp as Deandra Dottin was seen being carried off by her team-mates in obvious distress just before the commencement. Lucy Hamilton meanwhile faced the menace of Matthews. Everyone knows what carnage might strike from her bat. She whacked the first ball to the off-boundary. Thereafter she rode her luck: several lofted strokes just avoiding the clutching hands of the fielders. Qiana Joseph meanwhile was in the horrors. She is in the team for her power hitting, but it looked as though some malevolent genie had transformed her bat into a stick of celery. After the power-play she was on 6 from 16, and nothing was going right for her.
Matthews’ good fortune ran dry on Wareham’s first delivery, which snaked past her wandering feet and took the middle stump. Leg-spinners don’t have to bowl Warneish freaks of nature. Just a little drift in and straighten is enough for most purposes. Joseph meanwhile finally connected with a straight drive for six, but this was the most mendacious of false dawns. She slog-swept Molineux to Gardner at cow corner and was safely taken. Worse followed when Gardner cleaned up Taylor and Claxton. At 4/59 after 11 the innings was coming apart at the seams. Worse was to follow when Henry perished to Molineux, and Shemaine Campbelle holed out to Perry from Wareham.
At this point West Indies were 6/83 halfway through the 16th over, and facing an embarrassing disaster. Lo and behold! the new batsman was the patched-up Dottin. We still do not know what happened to her just prior to the start of play. She looked to be limping, but eager for the fray. She and Jannillea Glasgow then put on 42: the latter perishing to Sutherland from the final delivery. Dottin’s unbeaten 26 from 16 was but an echo of her past glories; but it was a brave intervention from a much-decorated cricketer. 7/125 was no sort of score on this friendly wicket. But it could have been so much worse. Australia might have missed a trick through not including King to make up a spin quartet. Gardner (2/13), Wareham (2/17) and Molineux (2/30) combined for 6/60 from their eleven overs. The only wicket to fall to seam was the final one. The women in maroon are proverbially more comfortable facing seam than spin.
Beth Mooney, we are informed, has a pair of broken fingers. She allowed Voll to take the gloves just once before returning to the side. Surprisingly, she opened the innings. After six overs she had stroked her way to 41, losing Voll and Litchfield on the way. There was no brutality here. It was more a case of surgical strikes. She watches the field rearrange itself and pierces the gaps as if spot-welding her way to a new apartment block. There was a flutter in the rooms as Perry sent herself off with an unexplained niggle. Safety first, we assume. We need not have troubled ourselves, as Mooney and Gardner picked off the runs with seven overs to spare. It was a crushing win by a side apparently in cruise control. And Lords awaits on Sunday.