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While England find themselves within touching distance of their second world title in 15 months, Australia are in their fifth straight World T20 final

The Preview by Annesha Ghosh24-Nov-2018

Big Picture

Football didn’t bring it home for England, but cricket well might. And that may happen before their football manager Gareth Southgate’s waistcoat-inspired Christmas jumper becomes a nationwide rage.England’s entry into the first-ever standalone Women’s World T20 final came about in a manner similar to that of the other finalist – and arguably their most-fancied rivals – Australia. Both sides thumped their opponents convincingly in their completed group-stage fixtures, save for one game each. England fluffed their lines in the frantic last leg of their botched defence against hosts West Indies while Australia got a pasting from India.The semi-finals were rematches of the last two women’s global-tournament finals, but Australia managed to reverse their result with Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry pinning West Indies onto the mat in the presence of an 8,000-strong crowd in Antigua. England caused India to implode in a crunch game.Since taking over the captaincy reins from Charlotte Edwards, after England’s semi-final loss to Australia in the 2016 World T20, Heather Knight has executed Mark Robinson’s template of how to win “scrappy” games (as Knight put it) to near perfection. After a humdinger of an end to their title-winning campaign at a full-house at Lord’s, they now find themselves within touching distance of their second world title in 15 months. But their unpredictability as a fielding unit – sloppy one night, sublime the other – could undermine Anya Shrubsole’s ever-looming, big, booming inswingers, or the form Natalie Sciver and Amy Jones finally found in the semi-final amid an overall lacklustre performance with the bat from the line-up through the tournament.Australia hold the clear edge. In 2018, they’ve blanked India in India 3-0 in an ODI series, blown England away in the final of the T20I tri-series that followed, and after a six-month hiatus from international cricket they assigned New Zealand and Pakistan to a similar fate to stroll into the World T20 as overwhelming favourites. On the eve of their fifth straight World T20 final, there’s little to suggest that they’ve shed that tag.After things “turned to custard” in the World Cup semi-final last year, this Australian team, under coach Matthew Mott, has been spot-on. Alyssa Healy has hit the form of her life at the top of the order, Meg Lanning and vice-captain Rachael Haynes have cushioned the middle order, and Ellyse Perry has adapted to her No. 7 position with reasonable success. Their bowling attack, led by Perry, has been as commanding, with consistent contributions from pacers Delissa Kimmince and Megan Schutt and the young spin contingent.With a first ever standalone WBBL final slated for Australia Day 2019, and the Women’s T20 World Cup at home in 2020, a win in Antigua promises to be the cherry on top in what is an exciting for time for women’s cricket in the country.

Form guide

Australia WLWWW (completed matches, most recent first)
England WLWWW

In the spotlight

Alyssa Healy wasn’t just talking herself up when she declared in March she was “always probably going to play more aggressively than others”. A year that kicked off with a maiden Women’s Big Bash League ton in January, led to a first international century two months later, and now a stellar World T20 showing. She goes into the final as the tournament’s leading run-getter, with 203 runs from four innings at an average of 67.66 and a strike rate of 149.26. She also has the second-most wicketkeeping dismissals in the tournament, and four Player-of-the-Match awards in five matches. She was concussed in the final group match, but that didn’t stop her from putting in another award-winning show in the semis. England need to get her out early.Four days after she left the field having bowled her allocation inside 15 overs, Kirstie Gordon overcame back pain and became India’s pain in the neck. She took out the dangerous Harmanpreet Kaur in a double-strike in the 16th over of the semi-final. But that is only one of the highlights of Gordon’s stellar run in the tournament. The 21-year-old kick-started her England career with 3 for 16 and a Player-of-the Match award on debut last week. This, after forgoing an opportunity to represent Scotland in the World T20 qualifier in July. Her England call-up had come on the back of an impressive showing on the county circuit and a charts-topping 17 wickets from 11 innings for Loughborough Lightning in the Kia Super League. She goes into the final topping England’s wickets charts, trailing only West Indies’ Deandra Dottin on the overall list.Heather Knight and her deputy Anya Shrubsole look on•Getty Images

Team news

Both finalists went with unchanged sides into the semi-final. Chances of tinkering with their combinations for the title clash appear slim.England (probable): 1 Danielle Wyatt, 2 Tammy Beaumont, 3 Amy Jones (wk), 4 Natalie Sciver, 5 Heather Knight (capt), 6 Lauren Winfield, 7 Sophia Dunkley, 8 Anya Shrubsole, 9 Danielle Hazell, 10 Sophie Ecclestone, 11 Kirstie GordonAustralia (probable): 1 Beth Mooney 2 Alyssa Healy (wk) 3 Meg Lanning (capt) 4 Ashleigh Gardner 5 Elyse Villani 6 Rachael Haynes 7 Ellyse Perry 8 Sophie Molineux 9 Delissa Kimmince 10 Georgia Wareham 11 Megan Schutt

Pitch and conditions

With the North Sound track offering both turn and grip, runs will be at a premium. Given the 8pm start, dew could be a factor, but anything close to 140 should be a competitive target to set.

Stats and trivia

• Ellyse Perry is one away from 100 wickets in T20Is, and 49 away from 1,000 runs
• Alyssa Healy is 55 runs away from surpassing Meg Lanning’s tally of 257 in 2014, which is the highest aggregate at a single edition of the Women’s World T20
• England left-arm spinner Kirstie Gordon and Australia quicks Megan Schutt and Perry are joint-second on the tournament’s wickets charts, with eight scalps each
• Healy is three dismissals away from equalling India’s Taniya Bhatia’s tally of 11 and England’s Sarah Taylor’s 73 – the most dismissals by a wicketkeeper in the World T20 this year and in T20Is overall, respectively
• Healy has won four Player-of-the-Match awards from five games so far. That’s already the most ever in a World T20, in men’s or women’s cricket, and one short of Debbie Hockley’s all-time World Cup record: five awards in the 1997 ODI World Cup”

Quotes

“It’s probably not been the smoothest ride to get to the final, but the main thing is we’re here and we’ve got another opportunity to have a shot at winning a global trophy again. And what an achievement it would be, how special it would be, if we could be double white-ball champions.”
“Coming up against England, they’re great rivals of ours. We play them a lot and really respect them as a team. Hopefully it’s a great game but we can come out on top.”

It would be the second year in a row that Kent have taken part in the Caribbean’s domestic one-day competition

ESPNcricinfo staff17-Sep-2017Kent and Hampshire have been invited to take part in West Indies’ Regional Super50 competition, the domestic one-day tournament, which is set to take place early next year ahead of the start of the 2018 English season.If the offer is taken up, it will be the second successive year Kent have been part of the competition. They finished third in Group A during the 2016-17 tournament with three wins from their eight matches.Last year’s edition started in late January and if either county did take part it would require a month-long stay in the Caribbean which would come with significant associated costs. The region has become a regular feature on the pre-season scene for English counties.There could be a significant presence for English cricketers in the Caribbean ahead of the 2018 English summer with the Lions touring for four-day and one-day series against West Indies A in February and March.

The ICC’s proposal for a two-tier Test system has not been received well in Bangladesh with the BCB’s vice-president Mahbubul Anam the latest to voice dissent

Mohammad Isam27-Jun-2016The ICC’s proposal for a two-tier Test system has not been received well in Bangladesh with the BCB’s vice-president Mahbubul Anam the latest to voice dissent as he feared for the growth of cricket in the country.As part of a widespread overhaul, David Richardson, the ICC chief executive, had said they were contemplating an increase in the number of countries with Test status and then separating them into two groups – the top seven and the bottom five – based on performance. Should this happen, Bangladesh, who are ranked ninth, are likely to slip into Division Two and settle for lesser Tests against top cricketing nations.”We do not support this system,” Mahbubul said. “We believe that more we play against competitive sides, the better we will get. If we didn’t play against better standard sides in ODIs, we wouldn’t have come this far. We were the king of the jungle from where we achieved the Test status. We were given a reality check when we were promoted to the highest level. I feel that if we go backwards, our cricket will regress.”As a veteran official who has represented the Bangladesh board at ICC, Mahbubul was disappointed that the global governing body was thinking about creating a “special class” of teams.”It is the ICC’s responsibility to globalise the game and not create a special class,” he said. “Other sports are spreading while cricket is becoming limited. I don’t think this should be the target of a global organisation.”Bangladesh gained Test status in 2000, but if they are relegated, they may have go through a two-year grind in Division Two to earn a promotion.Mahbubul is the third of the BCB directors after Ahmed Sajjadul Alam and Tanjil Chowdhury to speak against the two-tier proposal. The views of Nazmul Hassan, the BCB president, are not public yet.

Late hitting from middle-order batsmen Irfan Ahmed and Jamie Atkinson powered Hong Kong to a comprehensive 59-run win against Namibia in the first T20 in Windhoek, to take a 1-0 lead

ESPNcricinfo staff18-May-2015
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsFile photo – Jamie Atkinson’s unbeaten 64 set up Hong Kong’s 59-run win•ICC

Late hitting from middle-order batsmen Irfan Ahmed and Jamie Atkinson powered Hong Kong to a comprehensive 59-run win against Namibia in the first T20 in Windhoek, to take a 1-0 lead. Hong Kong scored 188 for 5 with fifties from Irfan and Atkinson and restricted Namibia to 129 for 7, allowing only two batsmen to score in double-figures.Put in to bat, Hong Kong were rocked early and reduced to 62 for 4 in eight overs, because of two wickets from medium-pacer Craig Williams. Irfan and Atkinson then pulled the momentum in their favour with a massive stand of 124 runs in 11.4 overs to charge them towards 200. Irfan’s 39-ball 55 included two fours and three sixes while Atkinson’s unbeaten 37-ball 64 featured five fours and four sixes. Williams finished with 3 for 32 after accounting for Irfan too.Namibia were stifled early by pacers Adil Mehmood and Ehsan Nawaz. While Mehmood struck on consecutive balls in the second over, Nawaz took two wickets in his first three overs, including a wicket maiden to finish with figures of 3-1-8-2. From 21 for 4 in the fifth over, Namibia stuttered to 37 for 5 before Sarel Burger and Raymond van Schoor resisted with a stand of 81 runs in 10 overs to take them past 100. Burger’s unbeaten 51 only took them to 129 as left-arm spinner Nadeem Ahmed also struck twice later.

Ishant Sharma, the India fast bowler, is struggling with viral fever but is expected to be fit for the first Test against England, which starts on Thursday

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Nov-2012Ishant Sharma, the India fast bowler, is struggling with viral fever but is expected to be fit for the first Test against England, which starts on Thursday. The BCCI has named Bengal fast bowler Ashok Dinda as a standby.Ishant has missed cricket for much of the year due to an ankle problem which needed surgery. He returned to the India squad for the New Zealand series three months ago, but didn’t get to play as Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav were preferred.The standby player, Dinda, has played 10 ODIs and five T20Is for India but is yet to make his Test debut. Dinda had a strong start to the domestic season, taking nine in the Duleep Trophy match against South Zone, but his form has tapered off since. In four subsequent first-class matches, he has only managed four wickets for 316 runs.It is unlikely that either of Ishant or Dinda will get to play the first Test in Ahmedabad as India are expected to go in with Zaheer and Yadav as the fast bowlers, with two spinners to complete the attack.Ishant missed India’s two-and-a-half hour practice session in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, while Zaheer, who was a slight fitness concern after walking off from his Ranji match against Railways with a groin problem, took part.

A powerful half-century from Shane Watson helped Australia make an encouraging start to their tour of South Africa as they won the opening Twenty20 in Cape Town by five wickets

The Report by Brydon Coverdale13-Oct-2011
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson played an important part in Australia’s victory•AFP

A powerful half-century from Shane Watson helped Australia make an encouraging start to their tour of South Africa as they won the opening Twenty20 in Cape Town by five wickets. The teenage debutant Patrick Cummins collected three wickets as South Africa reached 146 for 7, led by a solid innings from JP Duminy, and the target wasn’t enough to prevent Australia from turning around their recent poor T20 form.Although Australia’s chase was on track for most of the innings, a couple of good late overs from Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe gave South Africa a sniff in the dying stages. Australia needed six from the final over, bowler by Rusty Theron, and a single from Matthew Wade was followed by a square-driven boundary and a single from Steven Smith to get Australia home with three balls to spare, their second win from their past nine T20s.It was also their second win under the captaincy of Cameron White, who took over from Michael Clarke in January. White made a valuable contribution of 28 from 22 deliveries to keep Australia’s chase ticking along, and David Hussey’s 25 was also important, until he skied a slower ball from Tsotsobe in the second last over.Earlier in the over, Hussey had slammed Tsotsobe straight back over his head for an enormous six that all but ensured Australia’s victory. Two balls prior he had been dropped by Johan Botha at backward point, one of two spilled chances by Botha, who also gave White a reprieve at cover.Theron wasn’t the only South African who could be called rusty, which perhaps was understandable given they had not played an international match since they exited the World Cup in March. The most important of three missed chances in the field came in the second over when Graeme Smith put down Watson at slip off the bowling of Morne Morkel.Watson was on 2 at the time and he certainly made the South Africans pay. He used his muscle to pull Tsotsobe for six but he also played some classical strokes, including a perfect straight drive for four off Theron, who went for 42 from his three and a half overs. Watson brought up his half-century from his 34th delivery and although he fell soon after, from a leading edge caught at cover off Morkel for 52, he had done enough to set Australia on the path to victory.The chase had started poorly for Australia when David Warner, fresh from a pair of centuries in his final two Champions League innings, was run out without scoring in the first over. Warner mistimed a pull and took off for a single but was caught short at the bowler’s end by a wonderful direct hit form Morkel at backward square leg.Watson and Shaun Marsh (25) then combined for an 82-run stand that more than steadied the Australians, who had worked hard in the field to ensure a gettable target. Only twice before had Australia chased down bigger totals to win T20 internationals, and the target could have been greater but for a triple-wicket over in the 19th of the innings from Cummins.At 18, Cummins became Australia’s second-youngest debutant of all time in any format, but he showed plenty of poise to finish with 3 for 25 from his four overs. He collected the important wicket of Duminy, who on 67 failed to negotiate the slower ball from Cummins and skied a catch to Watson at cover.Cummins was soon on a hat-trick when he had David Miller (20) caught at long-off trying to clear the rope, and while the hat-trick ball was clipped for four through square leg by Botha, Cummins struck again later in the over. Again it was the slower ball that worked for Cummins, who had Botha caught at cover, and when Watson bowled Robin Peterson in the final over, Australia’s bowlers had done well to keep the target from ballooning.Earlier, Duminy had spent some time getting himself in, and was soon striking the ball cleanly and finding the middle of the bat. He welcomed the left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe with a six over long-on first ball, and took to the offerings of another of Australia’s debutants, James Pattinson, who ended up with 1 for 32.Pattinson’s final over leaked 19 runs as Duminy crunched him for a four through midwicket and then launched a pair of sixes over midwicket and deep cover. Duminy had support from two of the newer members of South Africa’s batting order, in a 58-run partnership with Colin Ingram that was followed by a 65-run stand with Miller.Miller had come to the crease after the departure of Ingram for 33 off 28 deliveries, when he was deceived by the slower ball from Pattinson and lofted the ball to Cummins at deep cover. Ingram had scored at a decent rate, driving square through point when given width and clipping through leg when the bowlers overcorrected.He lifted David Hussey over long-on for six, just clearing the rope when Warner jumped and got a hand to the ball but failed to cling on to what would have been a brilliant catch. Warner had already done something wonderful in the field, with an excellent throw from the deep having caught the stand-in captain Hashim Amla short for 4.Amla was coming back for a third run but couldn’t beat the accurate throw from Warner, who had run back at deep midwicket to save the boundary. Another of Australia’s four debutants, the wicketkeeper Wade, collected Warner’s return and whipped the bails off quickly to leave South Africa in trouble at 10 for 2 in the third over.Their problems had started in the first over when Smith looked rusty in South Africa’s first international match since the World Cup in March. No runs came off the bat in the first over, which ended with Smith dragging the ball on from well outside off to hand Doug Bollinger, remarkably playing his first T20 international, his first wicket in the format.Australia were on top, and South Africa never quite recovered from the early losses.