Australia start World Cup title defence with win

Indore, ICC Women’s World Cup

Australia 326 all out (49.3 overs): Gardner 115 (83), Tahuhu 3-42

New Zealand 237 all out (43.2 overs): Devine 112 (112), Molineux 3-26

89 runs led Australia to win.

Australia defeated New Zealand 89-run to win the Women’s World Cup title in Indore, which was a superb lower-order century for Ash Gardner as they defended their women’s title.

The all-rounder helped her team recover from a 128-5 defeat, helping them to finish with a 326-run lead after seven-time champions.

Sophie Devine, the captain of New Zealand, scored a defiant century with her team’s 0-2 lead before abruptly threatening to halt the White Ferns’ remarkable victory.

In Annabel Sutherland’s 43rd over, she hammered 12 fours and three sixes as Australia snuffed out any chance of winning the opening game. She also became the first of three New Zealand wickets to fall in her run-a-ball 112.

After Alyssa Healy won the toss and chose to bat, Phoebe Litchfield’s team jumped out to a flying start, going 81-1 at the end of the powerplay with a 31-ball 45.

However, Melie Kerr’s first ball of the 11th over resulted in the 22-year-old being bowled by the Australian charge until Gardner arrived.

Prior to being snuck in behind Bree Illing, Gardner marshalled partnerships of 64 and 69 with Tahlia McGrath and Kim Garth.

Devine’s innings took a slow start as she rebuilt with Kerr and a 75-run partnership, but New Zealand’s innings grew more quickly as they needed 91 to reach the 42-over mark.

Australia are the tournament’s toughest team, and Alyssa Healy’s side showed signs of the kind of talent that has helped them win so many international titles.

The overwhelming quality of their line-up, despite not performing at their best against their Trans-Tasman rivals, was sufficient to rescue their side from the binds they occasionally found themselves in throughout the match.

Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham, Heather Graham, and Megan Schutt, all of whom were signed as overseas players in the recent Hundred season, are among Healy’s side’s stars, strong enough to make up for them.

In her aggressive innings, Gardner recorded 16 fours and one six, but a lower order supported her as well, with Garth (38), Sophie Molineux (26), and McGrath (26), all contributing valuable runs.

In the second over, Suzie Bates, the former bowler, was superbly bowled by Molineux and Darcie Brown after Georgia Plimmer was run-out without facing.

Sutherland gave up just 25 runs in her first eight overs, while Melie Kerr and Brooke Halliday, who had two potential long-term partners at the crease, took the crucial middle-order wickets of Alana King and Melie Kerr.

I’m so proud of the fight this team put up. We continued to use our strengths. I’m very proud of it. Although the outcome did not go our way, it is irrelevant.

Alyssa Healy, the captain of Australia, said, “It felt tighter than I would have liked.”

You never know when Sophie [Devine] is there. Our girls deserve praise for sticking in there.