Published: Mar 30, 2016, 03:57 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 30, 2016, 04:02 PM (IST)
Australian skipper Meg Lanning’s half-century helped Australia post 133 for 7 in 20 overs against England in the first semi-final of ICC Women’s World T20 2016 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on Wednesday. Meg in desperation of scoring as many runs as possible in the final over was run out. It was her eighth Twenty20 International (T20I) fifty as he scored 55 off 50 and that knock was inclusive of six boundaries. Meanwhile, the wicket-takers for England were Laura Marsh, Jenny Gunn and Natalie Sciver who shared three wickets between each other. The other two wickets were run outs. The winner of this match will play the final. LIVE  CRICKET SCORECARD: Australia vs England, 1st Semi-Final, ICC Women’s World T20 at Delhi
Alyssa Healy got going in the very first over as she went off the mark with a boundary in the second delivery of the day. She went straight towards the mid-wicket boundary with an ease before another one when she cut it picking the gap between backward point and extra-cover. The English bowler Anya Shrubsole compensated the expensive first over with hers. The other opener Elysse Villani faced all the six deliveries scoring just three runs off it. If Villani was taking it slow, Healy was on fire on the other end. She targeted Katherine Brunt again, smashing two more boundaries of the bowler’s second over and immediately the English was under pressure.
It was no time when Villani joined the party as she took on Anya as soon as the latter came into the attack for a second time. While was beaten in the first delivery of the third over before she cut the next delivery in style at the gap near the point to finally release pressure that was on her due to dot balls in the earlier over. She drove beautifully towards mid-off for her second four. She picked the length of the ball beautifully as she pulled it to mid-off and with that Australia bagged 12 overs of the third over.
Laura Marsh was next handed the ball. Laura landed in India only seven days before and had played only one match in this edition of Women’s World T20. England’s final group stager match against Ireland was her first match in this tournament and her impressive figures of 3 for 23 in 4 overs helped her retain her place in the playing XI in the knock out match. Although she managed to keep the Australians quiet, Villani still had a boundary to her name in that over. Villani stepped forward and pulled it over the mid-off boundary for a flawless shot. Laura eventually did make a breakthrough; she dismissed Australia’s opening batter Healy in her next over.
While Australia’s wicketkeeper-batter while an attempt of a reverse sweep was strapped in front of the pads, to leave Australia at 50 for 2. It was huge wicket for England as Healy had already smashed five boundaries in her knock of 25 off just 15 deliveries. This was the second dismissal made by England, after Natalie Sciver removed Villani in the previous over. She was dismissed in the same fashion as Healy was. Although the commentators though the ball was doing slight-ish down the leg side, but the on-field umpire S Ravi showed no hesitation while he immediately raised his finger.
Following that the charge was taken by the skipper Lanning as she watched her teammates throw away their wickets from the other end. Australia lost three wickets–Alex Blackwell, Jess Jonassen and Meg–in the last two overs.
Brief scores:
Australia Women 132 for 6 in 20 overs (Meg Lanning 55;Â Natalie Sciver 2 for 22) vs England Women.
(Sakshi Gupta, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a sports fanatic whose mantra in life is “do only what you enjoy.†Her Twitter handle is @sakshi2929)
