Australia furthered their dominance in women’s cricket as skipper Meg Lanning and Sarah Coyte along with an all-round performance from Ellyse Perry scripted their hat-trick of ICC World Twenty20 titles through a six-wicket win over England at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium on Sunday. Australia were the pre-tournament favourites and they lived up to the expectations, reaching 106-4 on the back of Lanning’s 30-ball 44 and Perry’s unbeaten 31 after restricting inaugural champions England to 105-8, largely designed by medium-pacer Coyte’s 3-16 while Perry lent her support with 2-13.
England, who were the inaugural champions of the Women’s World T20, having claimed the 2009 title after beating New Zealand in the final, failed to capitalise on the chance to draw level with their rivals who clinched the next two T20 titles in 2010 and 2012.
In a repeat of the 2012 World T20 final, which Australia had won by four runs, both sides were expected to fancy their chances against each other in the final before the Southern Stars made it look extremely simple turning it into an one-sided affair.
England looked good initially at 55-2 inside the first 10 overs but later they could not cash in on the good start as the Australian bowlers put a brake on the opposition’s scoring rate by picking up wickets at regular intervals.
Player-of-the-match, Coyte, removed English opener Sarah Taylor (18) to break the 32-run second-wicket partnership with Heather Knight which eventually turned the tide to the Australians’ favour.
After the partnership was broken, England slipped from a formidable position and never appeared to have the required skill to battle against their much-fancied opponents, who were adamant to win the trophy and become the first country to claim a hat-trick of T20 crowns.
When Perry held on to an edge of Knight (29) off Erin Osborne, it exposed the English middle-order into action. England’s middle-order batters were hardly tested during the course of the tournament, thanks to the brilliance of the top-order that bailed them out on each occasion.
In pursuit of England’s modest 105-8, Australia started on an aggressive note as opener Jess Jonassen struck a six off Danielle Hazell’s first delivery and went on to smash 14 runs in the second over of the innings to give an indication of what was to come.
The Southern Stars knew they would face the main threat from seamer Anya Shrubsole and decided to play cautiously against the leading wicket-taker of the tournament as they had very little to chase.
Shrubsole removed Jonassen, Jenny Gunn dismissed Elyse Villani but they were no more than temporary successes as Perry (31 not out) and Lanning added 60 runs in eight overs before the latter was out after making highest 44 runs. But by then the Southern Stars had already made sure of their third consecutive T20 title.
BRIEF SCORES
England Women 105-8 in 20 overs (HC Knight 29, S Taylor 18, CM Edwards 13; SJ Coyte 3-16, EA Perry 2-13, RM Farrell 2-12) v Australia Women 106-4 in 15.1 overs (M Lanning 44, EA Perry 31 not out; NR Sciver 2-12).
Result: Australia Women won by
6 wickets.
Player of the match: SJ Coyte (AW)
Player of the series: A Shrubsole (EW)
-With New Age input
