Key events
27th over: Australia 178-1 (Litchfield 117, Perry 45) Litchfield blasts Deepti back over her head for six, because why wouldn’t you? And why wouldn’t you hack an almighty switch hit over extra cover for six more next ball?
The second six brings up the 150 partnership and prompts an almost awestruck smile from Ellyse Perry. That’s Ellyse Perry, by the way, one of the all-time greats.
Top-level sport is extremely tough. Most players tend to enjoy their achievements after the event rather than during, when everything is too intense and important. But Litchfield is different, certainly at this stage of her career. When she bats, one word comes to mind again and again.
26th over: Australia 162-1 (Litchfield 103, Perry 43) Litchfield is dropped by the keeper Ghosh! It was a tough chance standing up to the stumps, although Dinesh Karthik on commentary thinks she should have taken it. Litchfield went hard at the ball but the actual deflection wasn’t too big.
25th over: Australia 159-1 (Litchfield 102, Perry 41) Litchfield’s brilliance has allowed Perry to cruise along to 41 from 51 balls. There’s a decent argument she should throw the bat, especially given Australia’s depth, but right now it feels like Australia can do as they please.
A wonderful hundred from Phoebe Litchfield!
24th over: Australia 157-1 (Litchfield 101, Perry 40) Sree Charani returns to the attack. Litchfield charges her first ball and drives it sweetly over mid-off to reach a glorious 77-ball hundred. It’s the fastest in a World Cup knockout game, and she’s the youngest – by four years – to achieve that feat.
It’s been a classic Litchfield innings, bursting with skill, intent, imagination and an infectious effervescence. Oh, and boundaries, lots of boundaries: 17 fours and one six. She may have settled this semi-final already.
23rd over: Australia 152-1 (Litchfield 96, Perry 40) That single over from Deepti Sharma was to allow Amanjot and now Radha Yadav to change ends. Radha goes around the wicket to the left-handed Litchfield, making a bit harder for her to free her arms. Three singles from the over.
22nd over: Australia 149-1 (Litchfield 94, Perry 39) Litchfield moves into the nineties with an edge for four off Amanjot. Nobody under the age of 26* has scored a century in a Women’s World Cup knockout game. Litchfield is 22.
* That was Laura Wolvaardt yesterday.
21st over: Australia 144-1 (Litchfield 89, Perry 39) Deepti, back on for Amanjot, is reverse swept over short third by Litchfield. That’s her 15th four.
Deepti stops in her delivery stride, I think as a warning to Perry for backing up too far. A repeat of Lord’s 2022: now that would enliven this semi-final.
Drinks
“If you have a moment, could you please explain the fielding stats I’ve been reading over the past week, stating that the team at the top of the fielding stats table in this ODI contest is England?” asks Sarah Bacon. “I am aware that England has improved in a lot of areas since the last Ashes but I’m a tad gobsmacked that they’re number one performers in this area. Happy/not happy to be proven incorrect.”
I’m not certain (about anything), but I think those stats are just percentage of catches taken at this World Cup. They don’t take into account the difficulty of the catches, or misfields etc. From memory England did catch well in this World Cup.
20th over: Australia 135-1 (Litchfield 83, Perry 37) One left-arm spinner, Radha Yadav, replaces another in Charani. Litchfield greets her with successive boundaries over and through extra cover. The first wasn’t perfectly timed but had enough to clear the infield; the second was nailed.
And so was the third, driven over mid-off to end the over. In fact, that’s drinks. This is a wonderful innings from Litchfield, 83 not out from 66 balls. She’s 22 years old.
19th over: Australia 121-1 (Litchfield 69, Perry 37) The medium pacer Amanjot Kaur replaces Deepti Sharma, who wasn’t at her best in a spell of 3-0-18-0. Litchfield premeditates a lap stroke that brings her 11th four; we’re only in the 19th over.
18th over: Australia 115-1 (Litchfield 64, Perry 36) There’s no turn for Charani but she’s bowling very accurately. Her fourth over goes for only two, and one of those came from a partial misfield off her own bowling.
17th over: Australia 113-1 (Litchfield 63, Perry 35) Deepti tries to get herself and her team going by hurling the ball to the keeper, just past Perry’s head. Trouble is, the next ball is on the pads and put away with ease for four. Perry is cruising along and has 35 from 34 balls; Litchfield is on 63 from 53.
16th over: Australia 107-1 (Litchfield 62, Perry 30) That was the last ball of the over. The six Litchfield hit before that was stunning, lasered over extra cover.
Litchfield is not out!
Yep, it was a bump ball – she dragged the reverse sweep into the ground, after which it bounced up and was well caught by Amanjot. The interesting thing is that Litchfield was halfway off the field when Ellyse Perry ran after her to say it was being checked by the third umpire. The technology was pretty clear that it was a bump ball.
WICKET? This could be a vital breakthrough for India. The ball after driving a sensational six over extra cover, Litchfield scuffs a reverse sweep straight to Amanjot at short third. She’s been given out – but it may have been a bump ball.
15th over: Australia 99-1 (Litchfield 55, Perry 29) Perry joins in with a gorgeous straight six off Deepti, straight out of the textbook. India are in abundant bother here; since the resumption Australia have scored 74 in 9.5 overs.
Litchfield races to fifty
14th over: Australia 89-1 (Litchfield 53, Perry 21) Litchfield, on the charge, thumps Charani back over her head for four to reach a fabulous, tone-setting fifty: 46 balls, 10 fours. She’s going to be a superstar; even at the age of 22, she’s not far off.
Litchfield’s ODI record against India is exceptional: 561 runs at 70 with a strike rate of 93.
13th over: Australia 82-1 (Litchfield 48, Perry 19) Deepti Sharma comes on to bowl her brisk offspin. Litchfield mistimes a reverse sweep, with the ball hitting the forearm and looping over Ghosh. At first it looked like a chance but it was definitely off the forearm rather than the glove. Instead there was almost a run-out opportunity; the non-striker Perry wanted a quick single and had to scamper back to make her ground.
“India need a Travis Head-esque catch/moment to pull it back,” says Anul Kanhere. “Something to paper over the scars of Australian misery heaped on Indian teams.”
12th over: Australia 80-1 (Litchfield 47, Perry 18) The left-arm spinner Sree Charani delivers an over without a boundary. It’s a really good start, largely on the money and with just a single to Litchfield.
11th over: Australia 79-1 (Litchfield 46, Perry 18) Litchfield hammers Thakur over wide mid-off for four to bring up the fifty partnership in 32 balls. This is extremely ominous for India. Never mind a wicket, they just need an over without a boundary.
10th over: Australia 72-1 (Litchfield 39, Perry 18) Kranti Gaud is haemorrhaging runs. Perry hits back-to-back boundaries, both from poor deliveries: a length ball on the pads and a full toss on off stump. A skilful late cut makes it three boundaries in four balls.
Gaud, playing the biggest game of her life to date, is having a tough time: her figures are 5-0-49-1.
9th over: Australia 60-1 (Litchfield 39, Perry 6) Thakur seams a good delivery past Litchfield’s outside edge, the second of four consecutive dot balls. The run is broken when Litchfield flashes an edge past slip for four.
Thakur’s figures of 5-0-22-0 are a minor scandal; she’s bowled beautifully.
8th over: Australia 56-1 (Litchfield 35, Perry 6) Outstanding batting from Litchfield, who twists her wrists to squeeze a wide yorker from Gaud past backward point for four. That is such a skilful stroke.
A fierce square drive gets through Amanjot, who should have done better, and runs away for Litchfield’s seventh four. India have been extremely sloppy in the field since the resumption; as if to the prove the point, the next ball flies down the leg side for five wides. Richa Ghosh probably should have stopped that as well.
Gaud switches around the wicket in an attempt to cut out the wides to Litchfield. And though she concedes only a single from the last four balls, the over still costs 15. Despite the loss of Healy, Australia are off to a flyer.
7th over: Australia 41-1 (Litchfield 26, Perry 6) Perry’s nervous start continues with an inside edge past leg stump for four. When I say ‘past leg stump’, we’re talking millimetres. Thakur follows that with a wider slower ball that beats Perry’s edge; she’s been the pick of the bowlers so far, even though it was Gaud who took the wicket.
When Perry rotates strike, Ghosh comes up to the stumps to ensure Litchfield can’t keep charging down the pitch. Tactics, tactics.
Perry is not out! I think wrong: the ball from Thakur would have missed leg stump by a fair way. The key point is that it was delivered from wide on the crease so the angle and inswing were always taking it past the stumps.
Australia review: Perry given out LBW! I think she’s in trouble here, umpire’s call at best.
Play resumes after rain
6th over: Australia 34-1 (Litchfield 25, Perry 1) The players are back but India’s heads are still in the shed. Deepti Sharma’s, anyway: her needless throw from cover, with nobody backing up, gives Litchfield four bonus runs. Litchfield salts the wound by driving the next ball through extra cover for four.
The covers are coming off
A passing shower. But enough about England, ho ho ho, because play should resume in the next few minutes.
There’s a unique fascination in a battle between players at different stages of their careers, especially when it’s an established great and a potential great. Since the start of September Alyssa Healy, 35, has been dismissed by Kranti Gaud, 22, in four of her five innings against India. But the other match was the group game at this World Cup, in which Healy made an epic 142 and took Gaud to the cleaners.
Rain stops play
It started raining before Kranti Gaud began the sixth over, but the umpires tried to continue. Healy was out first ball, the rain started to get heavier and the players followed her off the field.
I don’t think there was anything wrong with the protocol, or the umpires’ attempt to play on, but Healy wouldn’t be human if she wasn’t hacked off.
WICKET! Australia 25-1 (Healy b Gaud 5)
Harmanpreet Kaur is the most relieved person in India. Alyssa Healy has dragged a length ball from Kranti Gaud back onto the stumps and is on her way for five. And she will be fuming because that’s the last ball before rain stops play.
5th over: Australia 25-0 (Healy 5, Litchfield 17) Thakur has been the better of the new-ball bowlers so far. An accurate over yields three runs, including – you do the math – no boundaries. That’s important given the start Litchfield has maded.
“Rob,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “Did the stump mic pick up Healy saying ‘You just dropped the World Cup, mate’?”
Arf, very good. (Even if the original was apocryphal.)
4th over: Australia 22-0 (Healy 3, Litchfield 16) Litchfield continues to deal in boundaries, moving to 16 with a whip to fine leg. She tries for a fifth boundary, charging down the track to Gaud, but misses a wild slap across the line.
This is fascinating stuff. Litchfield has put India on the back foot straight away with her aggression.
Healy dropped on 2 by Harmanpreet!
3rd over: Australia 17-0 (Healy 3, Litchfield 12) Healy has been dropped by her opposite number! Goodness me, what a moment so early in the contest. She tried to drive Thakur over the top, didn’t connect properly and watched the ball loop towards mid-off. Harmanpreet ran round, reached out with both hands but couldn’t hang on to a relatively straightforward chance. She had a second go as the ball rebounded off her wrist, then a third before it dropped to the ground.
Litchfield continues her flying start with a drive behind square for four. Twenty-two-year-olds are not supposed to come out of the blocks like this in a World Cup semi-final.
2nd over: Australia 12-0 (Healy 2, Litchfield 8) Litchfield punches Kranti Gaud sweetly to the cover boundary to get off the mark. Not much swing for Gaud just yet, and Litchfield ends the over by whacking another boundary over mid-off. That was a classy – and, for India, ominously confident – stroke.
There was a charming scene before the game when Harmanpreet Kaur invited one of the Indian mascots to address the team in the huddle, a duty the young girl performed with a smile and some demonstrative gestures. I can’t do it justice; I’ll try to the find a video.
1st over: Australia 3-0 (Healy 1, Litchfield 0) Thakur finds some immediate inswing – too much at first, with a couple of leg-side wides giving Australia their first runs. Healy pushes a single into the covers; Litchfield hits the field with a couple of off-side strokes and leaves the last ball of the over. Those two wides aside, a good start from Thakur.
Folks, it’s time for cricket. The new ball tends to swing in Navi Mumbai and I can’t wait to see the latest chapter in the battle between Kranti Gaud and Alyssa Healy. But it’s Renuka Singh Thakur who will bowl the first over.
“Morning from a cold Warsaw,” writes Krishnamoorthy V. “I came to know today (TIL in the modern lingo) that Ian Healy is an uncle of Alyssa. The batting depth in the Indian line up is amazing but we have to wait and see if the bowlers can give them an easy target to chase.”
Whatever the target, and whether India chase it or not, I can’t see it being easy.
The teams line up for the anthems. The players are wearing black armbands in memory of Ben Austin, the young cricketer who died tragically after being hit on the neck while batting in the nets.
The pitch is good for batting, according to the TV pundits, though Dinesh Karthik reckons it will turn in the second innings. If only Australia had a decent spinner.
The destructive Shafali Verma, who only joined India’s World Cup squad a couple of days ago as a replacement for the injured Pratika Rawal, goes straight into the XI. That’s one of three changes for the washout against Bangladesh. Richa Ghosh and Kranti Gaud return as expected; Harleen Deol and Uma Chetry drop out.
Australia make two changes from the XI that hammered South Africa. Alyssa Healy and Sophie Molineux replace the Georgias, Voll and Wareham.
Team news
India Smriti Mandhana, Shafali Verma, Amanjot Kaur, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh (wk), Radha Yadav, Krani Gaud, Shee Charani, Renuka Singh Thakur.
Australia Alyssa Healy (c/wk), Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland, Ashleigh Gardner, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Kim Garth, Alana King, Megan Schutt.
Australia win the toss and bat
Runs on the board in a semi-final and all that. Australia may also be mindful of the 2017 semi-final, when Harmanpreet Kaur stunned them with an amazing 171.
“Looks like great conditions, I don’t know the wicket’s gonna change much so it’s a great opportunity for us to put a score on the board,” says Alyssa Healy. I’m healthy, I’m just getting a little bit old!”
Harmanpreet says India would have batted but that they hope to take advantage of the overcast conditions with the new ball.
Healy fit to return for Australia
Australian captain Alyssa Healy, who missed the last two group games through injury, is walking out for the toss with Harmanpreet Kaur.
Weather watch
There were showers in Navi Mumbai this morning, it says here, with a small chance of more rain later in the day. There’s a reserve day if necessary, so I think we can safely cool our jets where the weather is concerned.
Jack Snape
Five of Australia’s all-conquering team set for a showdown against hosts India in the women’s cricket World Cup semi-final on Thursday have surged through the threshold of $1m annual earnings, as the growing financial opportunities in the global game approach and even exceed the value of Cricket Australia contracts.
That group might soon expand too, given an Indian Women’s Premier League “mega auction” is scheduled for November. The Australians – who have won three of the past four world T20 titles and are defending 50-over champions – are set to attract significant interest from the five franchises, each of which have approximately $2.6m to spend for the month-long tournament.
Australian Cricketers’ Association chief executive Paul Marsh said he expected women’s salaries to continue to grow. “It’s healthy, it can offer more and more players those sorts of opportunities, because that means we’ve got a better chance of securing the best athletes in the country.”
Preamble
Opal Fruits aren’t the only thing that make your mouth water. Since time immemorial, World Cups – all sports, not just cricket – have been enriched by one particular fixture: a knockout game between the hosts and the holders.
India v Australia in Navi Mumbai is about as mouthwatering as semi-finals get. India, the hosts, are desperate to win their first World Cup. Australia, the holders, are favourites to win their eighth. Before the tournament, most people thought this would be the final; instead the two teams are fighting for the right to face South Africa on Sunday.
The group game between the sides was a minor classic that produced 661 runs. Tonight’s game could be an epic.
The match starts at 9.30am GMT, 7.30pm AEST, 3pm in Navi Mumbai.
#India #Australia #Womens #Cricket #World #Cup #semifinal #live #Womens #Cricket #World #Cup
