Mandhana special, India spinners floor Australia, top group
Sat, Nov 17, '18
ICC Media Release
Smriti Mandhana’s career-best 83 helped India to a 48-run win over Australia, and ensured they top Group B heading into the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s World T20. Mandhana was given company by a breezy knock from Harmanpreet Kaur, one that saw the tournament’s 50th six hit. The win snapped Australia’s 12-match winning streak in the format, and gave India only their fourth win in 15 meetings between the two sides.
Mandhana put the Australia attack under pressure for the first time in the tournament, taking India almost single-handedly to a strong Powerplay score of 46 for one, of which she scored 37 off 22. After looking scratchy in the tournament, Mandhana looked in so such problems against the favourites, mixing drives along the ground with sixes in the ‘V’. She was joined by Harmanpreet Kaur when India were 49 for two in the seventh over, and the pair put on a symphony of stroke-play. Mandhana briefly ceded the stage to Harmanpreet, who took her chances against the spinners to hit three sixes in a 27-ball 43 (3x4, 3x6). The two put on 68 runs off just 42 balls, Harmanpreet scoring 43 of those.
When the India captain was finally dismissed in the 14th over, Mandhana took over again. Benefitting from a review that overturned an LBW, she swept and lofted into the gaps, until finally finding the deep-midwicket fielder in the 19th over, out for a personal-best of 83 (55b, 9x4, 3x6). She brought up 1000 career runs in the process. India finished with their highest T20I score against Australia, despite, Ellyse Perry’s brilliant spell of 3 for 16 in three overs.
Australia looked to be aggressive with the bat, but lost wickets at regular intervals in their chase. After a 27-run opening partnership, Deepti Sharma started the slide, removing both openers off consecutive balls in the fifth over. The two Yadavs, Poonam and Radha joined the fray, picking up the next two wickets, including that of Meg Lanning, to have Australia needing 107 off the last 54 balls with six wickets in hand.
The Indian spinners then applied the screws, using one-sided fields and conceding no boundaries between overs 10 and 14. Perry backed up her bowling with an inventive 39 not out, but she ran out of partners as the required run-rate rose; Australia were bowled out for 119, with Alyssa Healy not batting due to a concussion she sustained while ‘keeping.
On October 17, 2014, India and West Indies played the fourth ODI of a five-match series, in the hill town of Dharamsala. Halfway through the match, news emerged that the West Indies Cricket Board (now Cricket West Indies) had decided to call off the rest of the tour. The WICB communicated to the BCCI that it was left with no choice after a contracts fallout with the players.
Dwayne Bravo was West Indies' captain for that series. He would never again play an ODI. Bravo, who retired from international cricket late last month, has pointed to the dispute as the main reason for this. Bravo spoke recently to i955fm, a Trinidad-based radio station, chronicling the sequence of events that led to the India tour being abandoned.
Looking back the events that transpired in India, would you do anything differently?
The only thing I would do differently is tape everyone. Record everyone who was in there. I'm the only player that really paid for what happened in India. The only one who never get the opportunity to play one-day cricket again. I made a stand, as the captain, as the leader of the team, for the best interest of my players, and by extension the players who have come and played for West Indies cricket. At the end of the day, it wasn't fair on our bosses to send us on tour and cut the guys' contract by 75 percent. It was just really unfair.
Tournament finds top four: Windies and England join Australia and India
Sat, Nov 17, '18
ICC MEDIA RELEASE
The ICC Women’s World T20 2018 found its four semi-finalists on Friday as the Windies and England booked their spots, joining Australia and India. In two one-sided games of different tempo, both teams registered wins at a venue that finally lived up to its high-scoring reputation.
The millionth ball in women’s international cricket was sent down in the second game, and a hat-trick taken in the first, on a day when the Windies stole the show with their batting. After barely getting past 100 in their last two games, their batting finally clicked, helping them post their highest ever T20I score. The weekend will see two top-of-the-table clashes to decide the line-up of the top four.
Windies v Sri Lanka:
The pitch at the Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium seemed hard and dry after a few days of sunshine, and that helped the Windies banish their batting blues. After the defending champions won the toss and batted first, Hayley Matthews and Deandra Dottin put up a belligerent 94-run opening stand in 9.4 overs to set up a mammoth total of 187 for five. Matthews scored the second-fastest fifty of this tournament, reaching the mark off just 25 balls.
Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor contributed with 49 and 41 respectively, with Taylor striking 22 off the last eight balls she faced to ensure that her team’s strong start was not wasted. Together, the Windies top-three scored 152 runs from the team’s total. It was the third-highest total in the history of the ICC Women’s World T20, and had more than 5000 home-fans dancing through much of the innings.
Only captain Chamari Athapaththu (44) provided any resistance for Sri Lanka, as Matthews capped off her day by becoming the first woman to take three wicket and score a half century in an ICC Women’s World T20 match. Sri Lanka were bowled out for 104 in 17.4 overs, handing the Windies a massive 83-run win.
Player of the Match Hayley Matthews said: “I think it's is good to be able to come out to the games and really see the support we've been getting. From game-one when we played in Guyana we had an amazing crowd, and since we've been here in St. Lucia it's been just as good or even better.
“I think especially when we set the low totals in the last game, the crowd really helped to push us on and I guess hype us up in the field a bit. We saw the same thing happened today.”
Scores in brief:
Windies187-5, 20 overs (Hayley Matthews 62, Deandra Dottin 49, Stafanie Taylor 41) Sri Lanka: 104 all out in 17.4 overs (Chamari Athapaththu 44; Hayley Matthews 3-16)
Player of the Match: Hayley Matthews
England v South Africa:
In a game that saw only the second ever hat-trick in ICC Women’s World T20s, England made short work of an insipid South Africa to take a step closer to the semi-finals, a position that was confirmed when the Windies beat Sri Lanka later in the night. Anya Shrubsole took a hat-trick at the end of the first innings, but Natalie Sciver was more impressive with the ball at the start, as South Africa’s batting collapsed for the second consecutive game.
Chasing just 86, England’s openers brought up their fifty partnership off 43 balls, with Danielle Wyatt crossing the 1000-run milestone in T20I cricket on the way. Wickets fell against the run of play as they neared the South Africa total, but they eventually secured a resounding seven-wicket win.
Earlier, South Africa were guilty of playing too slow in the first half of the innings for the second game in a row, as they took 28 balls to get the team score into double figures. Big-hitting opener Lizelle Lee took 26 balls for her 12 runs, and the resulting pressure on the middle-order meant wickets fell regularly.
Chloe Tryon then built two partnerships to give South Africa hope of getting to a hundred. But she was dismissed for 27 in the 18th over, the first scalp in a double-wicket maiden from Sciver, who finished on 3 for four from four overs. South Africa folded for 85 in 19.3 overs, Anya Shrubsole claiming a hat-trick to clean up the last three wickets.
England’s Anya Shrubsole said: “The bowling has been outstanding the last couple of games. She's (Natalie Sciver) been brilliant with the new ball. It's something she's done in the past when I guess either myself or Katherine (Brunt) have been injured, and she always does a brilliant job. She's worked really hard in the period leading up to this.”
Scores in brief:
South Africa: 85 all out, 19.3 overs (Chloe Tryon 27; Natalie Sciver 3-4, Anya Shrubsole 3-11, Kirstie Gordon 2-18) England: 87-3 in 14.1 overs (Danielle Wyatt 27, Tamsin Beaumont 24; Dane van Neikerk 2-13)
India seal semi-final spot, New Zealand salvage pride with win over Pakistan
Thu, Nov 15, '18
ICC Media Release:
India v Ireland
On a pitch that showed some turn and variable bounce due to overnight showers, Mithali used all her experience to build a foundation for India. She combined with Smriti Mandhana to post a 67-run opening partnership, of which Mandhana scored 33. The duo helped India set the base for a safe score, but the India innings lost some momentum towards the end, losing their last four wickets for 27 runs, finishing at 145 for six.
After Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues joined Mithali in a 40-run partnership, but no other batter in the top six got into double figures. Mithali reached her fifty in the 18th over, finishing on 51, making her the first woman to score seven T20I fifties in a calendar year. The eventual win, their third in the tournament, which tied them with Australia on six points, but behind on net run-rate, gave India their seventh consecutive T20I win, their longest streak in the format.
There was little joy in Ireland’s chase, which ended on 93 for eight, as only two batters got past single figures, strangled by the slowness of the pitch and the Indian spinners. Wickets fell regularly and then in a heap, as Isobel Joyce top scored with 33. Clare Shillington set a historic mark for Ireland on the way to her 23, becoming the first Irish batter to score more than 1000 T20I runs.
Indian vice-captain Smriti Mandhana said: “Well, it means a lot (to make the semis) because after the Asia Cup final, a lot of things happened back home. Everyone had actually thought that we wouldn't even make it to the semi-finals because we did not even win the Asia Cup.
“But I guess everyone was motivated enough after the Asia Cup that this time, this is the time everyone will be watching, and we have to prove our point. In 2017 we qualified for the final, but that can’t be just a one-off.”
Ireland’s Isobel Joyce said: “If you look at the top Indian players, they play against top bowlers all the time. They have a plan against Ellyse Perry, against all the top bowlers, because they've played them a number of times each year.
“Today’s the first time I've played against any of those bowlers in a couple of years. I'm trying to think on my feet, and suddenly it's four or five balls into a spell and a new bowler comes on. That's really where the difficulty lies personally. It's not the nerves.”
New Zealand put up a team effort with the bat to score 144 for seven, with their rearranged top four scoring 122 of those runs. Sophie Devine retuned to open the batting with Suzie Bates, and the two put on 59 for the first wicket with a mix of aggression and good running. Bates top scored with 35, and Devine was close behind with 32.
Amy Satterthwaite and the in-form Katie Martin then added 37 for the fourth wicket, until both were dismissed in a series that saw four wickets fall for 13 runs in eight balls across the last two overs of the innings. The late slump meant that New Zealand scored only 70 in their last 10 overs, failing to double their halfway score.
In reply, Javeria gave them a scare, following up her career best 74 not out in the last game with a quick-fire 36 off just 23 balls. That left Pakistan needing just 96 runs in the remaining 84 balls with eight wickets in hand. But she received no support from the other end, only one other regular batter getting into double figures. The spin duo of Jess Watkin and Amelia Kerr finished with six wickets between them, bowling Pakistan out for 90 in exactly 18 overs.
New Zealand’s Jess Watkin, who took three wickets, said: “You never know what this wicket is going to do, whether it's going to turn or stay low, so yeah, it's real nice to bowl with.
“We didn’t finish well with the bat, but I think we just kind of put it behind us and just focused on our bowling and really went hard out there. I think when we got (Nida) Dar out, I think we definitely had a chance then, that was the turning point.”
Javeria Khan of Pakistan looks on from the dugout during the ICC Women's World T20 2018 match between New Zealand and Pakistan at Guyana National Stadium on November 15, 2018 in Providence, Guyana. Javeria Khan of Pakistan looks on from the dugout during the ICC Women's World T20 2018 match between New Zealand and Pakistan at Guyana National Stadium on November 15, 2018 in Providence, Guyana. Pakistan captain Javeria Khan said: “We have worked a lot on the batting since last year. The coach Mark Coles has been giving us clear plans and the girls have responded well. He brings a new thinking and a new culture to the dressing room.
Scores in brief
New Zealand: 144-6, 20 overs (Suzie Bates 35, Sophie Devine 32; Aliya Riaz 2-29, Sana Mir 2-35)Pakistan: 90 all out in 18 overs (Javeria Khan 36; Jess Watkin 3-9, Amelia Kerr 3-21) Player of the Match: Jess Watkin
Windies and Sri Lanka win to leave group 'A' wide open
Thu, Nov 15, '18
ICC Media Release
Windies v South Africa:
The Windies maintained their spotless record against South Africa in ICC Women’s World T20s, applying sustained pressure with the ball and in the field to steal a 31-run win. Their winning margin was bloated by a late collapse that saw South Africa lose their last five wickets for just one run.
South Africa were looking steady at 41 for 1 after 10 overs chasing the Windies total of 107, when two outstanding pieces of fielding –including one direct hit from point by Deandra Dotttin- brought the holders back into the game. Taylor then brought herself on and bowled her four overs on the trot, taking a wicket in each of them. From 48 for one, South Africa slipped to 64 for five through a combination of pressure and panic, eventually bowled out for 76.
Taylor registered career best figures of 4 for 12, claiming Player of the Match, a medal that seemed headed into Shabnim Ismail’s pocket for a brilliant opening spell. Ismail (3 for twelve) removed the
Windies’ most destructive batters in her first twelve balls, claiming her second consecutive three-wicket haul. A 45-run partnership between Kycia Knight (32) and Natasha McLean (28) rescued the Windies, giving them something to defend.
Windies captain and Player of the Match Stafanie Taylor said: “Deandra, I think her position at point, backward point is pretty much fixed. When she's not bowling, that's where she's supposed to go, because she's magnificent. She's fantastic. She gets around pretty quickly.
“And batters fear her when she has the ball in her hand or when she's going towards the ball. No one wants to take a run. So, when Dane got run out, I think she was caught off-guard, but it turned the match in our favour.”
Scores in brief: Windies: 107-7, 20 overs (Kycia Knight 32, Natasha McLean 28; Shabnim Ismail 3-12, Dane van Neikerk 2-8) South Africa: 76 all out in 18.4 overs (Marizanne Kapp 26, Lizelle Lee 24; Stafanie Taylor 4-12)
Player of the match: Stafanie Taylor
Sri Lanka v Bangladesh:
Bangladesh missed out on their best chance of ensuring automatic qualification for the next edition of the tournament as their batting disintegrated in a chase of 98. Only two batters made it into double figures, as the batters undid some fine work from the bowlers, in particular Jahanara Alam.
Shashikala Siriwardene took two wickets for Sri Lanka after top scoring with the bat, and skipper Chamari Athapaththu took three after failing. But the dents in Bangladesh’s chase were made by the left arm swing of Udeshika Prabhodani, who took two wickets in her first over. Then the spinners shared the spoils, bowling 75 dots in the innings as Bangladesh never recovered from those early blows.
Earlier, Jahanara Alam’s three wickets were the highlight of a bowling effort that seemed to have done enough. Bangladesh strangled the Sri Lanka top order, until a 31-run partnership off 20 balls between Siriwardene and Nilakshi de Silva took them close to a hundred. A slow outfield and helpful conditions for the bowlers meant that those runs were enough.
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