England lay down the gauntlet by shocking world champions Australia
England are going to find it difficult to play down their chances of winning the Women’s World Cup on home soil after they inflicted their first defeat on Australia in the competition since 1993.
England’s inexperience was the reason cited why they might struggle to compete but it was two of their older hands, Katherine Brunt and Jenny Gunn, who sank the defending champions yesterday with significant contributions with both bat and ball, Australia finishing three runs short of the hosts’ 259 for eight.
The pair shared an important seventh-wicket partnership of 85 from 78 balls which gave England late impetus on a used pitch and then bowled important overs at the death to thwart Australia’s muchvaunted batting, with Brunt holding a running catch at long-on to deny Ashleigh Gardner a six in Gunn’s final over.
“It’s always brilliant to beat Australia and with South Africa beating India yesterday, that threw the competition open as well,” Gunn said. “That’s what
women’s cricket is about. Anybody can win from here.
“You always think that Australia are going to be favourites wherever they travel and that has allowed us to play with the freedom we have and we all believe in each other,” she added.
After a defeat by India in their opening match two weeks ago, England have now won their past four games but still need at least another win – they play New Zealand at Derby on Wednesday and the West Indies back here on Saturday – to secure a semi-final place.
It will not be difficult for Australia to identify what went wrong here. They conceded 32 extras in an unusually profligate display in the field and were shackled by England’s canny left-armer Alex Hartley in the crucial mid-innings overs.
Hartley took two for 31 in her 10 overs including the prized scalp of Australia captain Meg Lanning, who was bowled through the gate.
Lanning was hampered by a shoulder injury but she did not use that as an excuse, instead praising Hartley who had a spell at the same club side in Melbourne five years ago. “Full credit to her,” Lanning said. “I thought she had a good plan and came out and executed it really well and was mainly responsible for tying us down in those middle overs.”