ICC Women’s World Cup: Australia won the 7th World Cup title defeating defending Champions England

‘The Invincibles’ and ‘Mighty Aussies’ for a reason. From the very first ball till the end, they were in it, to win it. Never gave a loose moment or a spark of doubt among viewers or fans about why they shouldn’t win the title.

Batting with a winning intent

The final race started with England choosing to field. Australia took every bit of this opportunity and came out with blazing shots from the beginning. Alyssa Healy along with Rachael Haynes anchored the innings for Australia especially Alyssa Healy. Her intent was terrific from the start. While Rachael Haynes got out for 93-ball 68, Alyssa Healy was all in for attacking play. After a 160-run partnership with Rachael Haynes, she further built a 156-run partnership off 98 balls with Beth Mooney. The swashbuckling inning of Alyssa Healy came to halt at 170 as Amy Jones pulled a stunning stumping off Anya Shrubsole. She further stopped Beth Mooney at 62. After this England looked like being finally able to stop Australian batters from hitting more on the scoreboard. Anya Shrubsole shined as Ashleigh Gardner got run-out by Kate Cross on her ball and further dismissed captain Meg Lanning for 10 runs. Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry remained not out for 8 and 17 runs respectively to post a score of 356 at a loss of five wickets.

Naseer Hussain, former England captain and now commentator said, “This is the best Australian women's side to have ever played the game." 

The pressure of the World Cup title and a target of 350+ runs

The target of 357 for the final title was very competitive and high for any opposition. Chasing 356, England had no option but to go hard from ball one. England openers Tammy Beaumont and Danni Wyatt did not get a good start for the team. England saw early dismissals of the two for mere 27 and 4 runs respectively by Megan Schutt. Following these early falls of wickets, captain Heather Knight and Nat Sciver looked to build a stable partnership but Alan King caught the skipper for an LBW, and Heather Knight got out for 26 runs. Amy Jones and Sophia Dunkley in the middle order made 20 and 22 run each. Furthermore, all the batters down the line failed to stay on the crease with Nat Sciver. Wickets kept falling as Nat Sciver kept watching from the other end. She played a fighting inning of 148 runs not-out in a run-chase to keep her team into the game, single-handed. The cuts, pull, scoops, and whatnot - played it all but unfortunately, ended up on the wrong side of the result. Her inning came almost as a frustration to the opposition, which even forced Australians to play Ellyse Perry a few overs as bowler despite her back spasm. Only if Sciver could have got a partner on the other, the result might have been different or at least a competitive win for Australia. Continuous fall of wickets ended them with a 71-run loss for defending champions.

Alyssa Healy "Not sunk in yet. Special game of cricket, very high scoring. It is something we have been working towards for a long period of time. To get over the line was pretty cool. The job was half done, we knew we had a good total. But we knew their line-up was peaking at the right time. The bowlers held their nerves. Sciver played a special knock, almost got them over the line. It was nice to get out there and put up a good total on board. Proud of the batting group and whole group. (Hip) Find me later! I think everyone has worked very hard for this. It has been a five-year wait for a title people said we would have had. Will reflect on the three months that we have had."

It has been a tournament of domination for Australia right from the get-go. England did well to be there in the chase till the very end. But only if they had a few more wickets left in hand. A satisfying and much-deserved win for Australia in this World cup.