Australia Women vs India Women ( att : 13,432 )

February 21, 2020

Today is the start of the 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup being hosted by Australia. The first game is a Day/Night match between holders and favourites Australia, and India at the Sydney Showground.

The final of the tournament will be played at the MCG and the organisers are talking of a 93,000 sell-out. To have any chance of achieving this, the host nation will have to get to the final, so no pressure on the Aussie girls then !

In the past 18 months or so, Australia’s women have appeared to be invincible, but defeats to both England and India in the recent warm-up triangular tournament gives hope that the World Cup might not be a procession for the home team.

The golden girl of Australian sport, and Women’s cricket globally, is Ellyse Perry. Probably the fastest bowler in Women’s cricket and a hard-hitting batter who has recently moved up the order to the No 4 berth, Perry has also played in the Women’s Football World Finals for the Matildas as a centre-back, and even scored in the 2011 quarter-final the Aussies lost to Sweden. Perry was often under pressure to choose between the two sports, but a new coach of the Matildas made the decision for her, by not picking Ellyse, and she has concentrated on cricket ever since.

Beth Mooney, captain Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healey are all in the top 6 in the T20 batting rankings, whilst Megan Schutt is top of the bowling rankings. Perry is the world’s best all-rounder. Healey is the niece of former test wicket-keeper Ian Healey, and is married to Mitchell Starc. Perry is married to Australian Rugby Union star Matt Toomua.

However, despite this array of talent in the Australian team, there is some concern over the next generation to replace them, and one of the few potential stars of the future, 19 year old bowler Tayla Vlaeminck has just pulled out of the tournament with an injury.

The Indians have improved tremendously over the past 15 years, with the governing board finally showing an interest in the Women’s game and belatedly providing some funding and developing the game for women. They are 4^th in the T20 rankings, but 2^nd in the ODI rankings. Their strength appears to lie in the batting with captain Harmenpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues all ranked in the top 10. Kaur famously scored 171 not out in 115 balls in the semi-final of the 2017 Women’s ODI World Cup to knock-out Australia, so the Aussies will be wary of her. Big things are also expected of Mandhana. Since the retirement of opening bowler Jhulan Goswami, India’s bowling is not so strong, and are likely to be relying on their spinners.

The Sydney Showground is part of the Olympic Stadium complex and is used by Sydney Thunder for Big Bash Cricket and the Western Sydney Giants for Aussie Rules Football, whilst Western Sydney Wanderers played their A-League football matches here for a couple of seasons when their stadium in Parramatta was being rebuilt. It was used for Baseball, Equestrian Events and the Modern Pentathlon in the 2000 Olympics.

As today is the first day of the tournament, there will be the inevitable opening ceremony. Unlike at the Olympics where the opening ceremony is an event in itself, at other tournaments it is merely a prelude to the sport, and I’ve normally had an attitude of get on with it ! Fortunately, today’s entertainment starts just an hour before the play is scheduled to commence and according to the press release, we are due to be entertained by Singer Vera Blue, First Nations performer Mitch Tambo, DJ Dena Amy and Indian-born musician Harts. I am none the wiser !

The ICC announced that technology will be used for front foot no-balls, which will be called by the third umpire so I am interested to see how this will work in practice. However, as it turned out this was not required in today’s match.

We arrive around 45 minutes before the start of the scheduled play, being able to park 5 minutes away from the stadium, prepaying 30 AUD to avoid having to queue to pay after the game. As we approach the stadium, we can hear some didgeridoo music so thankfully have missed that performance.

After a minimal security check we are into the Showground where there are a number of food and drink outlets on the concourse. We stop at a bar where it is 9 AUD for a schooner ( 0.4L ) of XXXX Gold and a 3.5% lager, and 8.5 AUD for a low alcohol beer. A glass of wine looks much better value at 10 AUD.  Payments are only possible by credit card, no cash is accepted. There is a 2 AUD deposit for the plastic glasses the drinks are served in, and later we learn that the bar closes before the end of the match so we are not able to get the deposit refunded. Most food items seem to be 15 AUD.

We take our seats, which cost 20 AUD each, to watch the rest of the pre-match entertainment. 

Brett Lee is interviewed, Australia win the toss and elect to field, and Vera Blue and Harts perform one song each. About a hundred teenage girls perform a dance routine, which some wag says they have been rehearsing for 30 years !

Disappointingly, there is no official World Cup paraphernalia ie brochures, hats, t-shirts etc on sale inside the ground, although cards with 4 or 6 are handed out for audience participation. I decline to take one.

The Showground is an interesting stadium, with 8 huge floodlight pylons which look like they have been built from surplus material from the Forth Road Bridge, but provide tremendous light. 

There is a collection of ad-hoc stands that add to the character of the stadium, and the view from our seats on the cover point/cow corner boundary is good.

The ground is only about a quarter full for the start of the match, but fills up gradually during the Indian innings to become the highest ever attendance for a stand-alone Women’s sporting event in Australia. Nearly half the crowd are supporting India, and a lot of the rest of crowd are families and young children.

16 year old Shafali Verma opens the batting with Mandhana, and not even being in the competition two days ago, Molly Strano bowls the first over. All group matches have one male and one female umpire. It looks like Strano is bowling very slow away swingers, the sort that would be meat and drink in the 3^rd XI, but the Indian openers respectfully only take two singles from it. I later read she is an off-spinner…..

Perry bowls the first over from the other end and her pace seems to unsettle Mandhana, and her second ball is miss-pulled to mid-wicket, but the straight forward catch is dropped.  When Perry pitches the ball up, Mandhana lofts over mid-off for two fours.

Verma then decides that Strano is 3^rd XI standard and clubs a six and a four and when Schutt takes over from Perry, the Number 1 ranked bowler is hit for four fours in an over by Verma. After 4 overs India have raced to 40 for 0.

The Aussie response is to bring on the left arm spin of Jonassen and she strikes in her first over getting Mandhana LBW. Perry replaces Schutt and first ball gets an LBW decision in her favour, although this is overturned on review, clearly going down the legside. Two balls later Verma chips to mid-on to be dismissed, and in the next over captain Kaur charges down the wicket to Jonassen, misses, the ball hits wicket-keeper Healey on the pads and bounces onto the stumps for a stumping. Healey has the grace to look embarrassed but suddenly India are in trouble at 47 for 3.

Not that you would know the score inside the ground. The large scoreboard does not give the score or how many runs the batsmen have scored or the bowling figures, although you can watch repeats of the action. There seems to be an assumption that the crowd are ignorant of the basics of scoring in a cricket match.

Sharma and Rodrigues are now the batsmen and adopt a position of careful consolidation, content to push the singles, and appear to have mastered the art of turning twos into one, with some pretty conservative running between the wicket. Australia’s fielding impresses with some athletic stops and several throws from the boundary straight into the keeper’s gloves.

The scoreboard finally starts including some scores and we learn that the partnership is scoring at less than a run a ball, and the 100 comes up in the 15^th over. Immediately though, Kimmence, who looks to be bowling nearly as quick as Perry, gets Rodrigues LBW. The decision is reviewed, but is unsuccessful, and Rodrigues has to go for 26 off 33 balls.

Sharma decides to start sweeping and takes two boundaries off Jonassen, which feel like the first boundaries for over 10 overs, but after this India go back to pushing singles and their innings limps to a close. However, there are no details on the scoreboard so no-one inside of the ground knows what their score is as scoreboard has stopped providing the basic information. I have to look on my phone to see that they made 132 for 4 off their 20 overs, with Sharma 49 not out off 46 balls. Verma made 29, and for Australia, Jonassen finished with 2 for 24 off her 4 overs.

The crowd have made a lot of noise during the innings, particularly some drummers, presumably Indian supporters, and whilst there is a guy trying to give updates over the tannoy between overs, he is drowned out by either the drumming or the music, which makes the lack of information on the scoreboard annoying.

After a break of around 10 minutes the players are back onto the field, with Healey and Mooney opening for the Aussies. India start with spin at both ends. Australia’s approach appears to be for Mooney to push the singles and Healey to go for the big shots. In the first over Mandhana chases to the boundary and her diving attempt saves one run, but her momentum takes her onto the advertising hoardings, and she has to go off injured.

Immediately though the difference in the running between the wickets is obvious, with quick singles being taken, risky twos creating fumbles in the field, and the Indian fielding is nowhere to the same standard as the Australian fielding. India also waste their one review in the third over, challenging an LBW decision where the ball has pitched about a foot outside leg stump, which raises questions as to whether or not the bowler and the wicket-keeper actually know the LBW law as it such a shocking referral.

Australian seem to be cantering to victory and it is a surprise when Mooney steers the slow medium Pandey to point for 32 for 1 in the fifth over. The scoreboard has started providing details again !

Healey hits Reddy, another medium pacer, for three fours in an over before Lanning comes down the wicket to the left arm spin of Gayakwad, misses and the wicketkeeper makes no effort to remove the bails. Lanning though had edged the ball and the umpire gives her out caught. 55 for 2 in the 8^th over.

Leg spinner Poonam Yadav joins the attack in the 9^th over and Healey smashes a full toss over cow corner for six and her fifty. Next ball though she gets a leading edge and is caught and bowled. 67 for 3 after 10 overs and perhaps game on ?

Haynes and Gardiner have come in before Perry. In Yadav’s next over, Haynes is beaten by a googly and comfortably stumped by Bhatia, and first ball, Perry is comprehensively bowled by a googly for a Golden Duck and Australia have slumped to 76 for 5.

Yadav is on a hat-trick, and the left-handed Jonassen edges another googly, but the diving keeper is unable to hang on to the difficult chance. The reprieve is only temporary though as in Yadav’s next over Jonassen is caught behind leaving Australia reeling at 82 for 6 off 14 overs. Yadav has 4 for 15 off 3 overs and the Indians in the crowd are going wild.

With Yadav’s final over being saved for the end, Gardiner smacks a 6 off Gayakwad and when medium pacer Pandey returns to the attack, Bhatia stands up to the stumps and performs a smart stumping to remove Sutherland.

At 102 for 7 off 17 overs, Yadav returns and rank slow long hop bowls Gardiner. However, when the umpires check it is confirmed that the ball bounced twice and so it is a no-ball and a free hit. The Indian supporters around me do not understand what has happened so I have to explain the law to them ! Rather than 5 for 18, Yadav finishes with 4 for 19.

With 27 required off 2 overs, the innings ends rather meekly with two run outs and a skied caught and bowled, leaving India the winners by 17 runs, and the tournament wide open.

In less than 10 minutes we have left the stadium and are out of the car park on the way back into town.

A very entertaining evening for the neutral !

Highlights : https://www.t20worldcup.com/video/1617284