Connect with us

Latest News

Healy plunders 158 off 98 balls in final ODI as Australia secure huge win

Published

on

Alyssa Healy celebrates her eighth ODI century [Cricinfo]

Alyssa Healey  produced a fairytale farewell to ODI cricket with a stunning 158 from 98 balls in her final innings while Beth Mooney made an unbeaten century as Australia thumped 409 for 7 to trounce India in Hobart and ensure they can’t be beaten in the multi-format series with just the Perth Test to play.

Healy, who battled a calf issue during her innings that she put down to “getting old”, produced a vintage performance the equal of any of her best innings across a glittering career. She smashed 27 fours and two sixes in a staggering display to become just the sixth woman, and second Australian, to post two 150-plus scores in ODIs and the second fastest 150 off 95 balls. It was also the highest score in a women’s ODI in Australia, the highest anywhere against India, and she joined Johmari Logtenberg as the only other woman to score a century in their final ODI.

Mooney played the silent partner in a 145-run stand with Healy but then picked up the slack to reach her sixth ODI century in the final over off just 82 balls and finished with 106 from 84. Australia had lost 4 for 37 at the start of the last 10 but Nicola Carey smashed 34 not out off 15 to help Australia race past 400.

India’s chase never got going as regular wickets meant the required run-rate got out of control. Jemimah Rodrigues made 42 off 29 but India gave up on the chase after she fell. Alana King ripped through the middle-order to take 4 for 33. Sneh Rana top-scored at No.9 with 44 as they were bowled out for 224, 185 short of the target.

The game turned into such a procession that when India were 164 for 7, needing 246 from 18 overs to win, Healy indulged herself by bowling the first two overs of her international career.

The win completed a 3-0 ODI series sweep against the reigning world champions who knocked Australia out in the semi-final last year. It also meant Australia took an 8-4 points lead in the multi-format series with India only able to draw the series given just four points are on offer for the win in the lone Test that starts on Friday in Perth.

Healy was earlier supported well by Georgia Voll who made 62 from 52 in a 104-run stand. India’s bowlers had a difficult day with Shree Charani becoming only the third woman to concede 100-plus runs in an ODI innings. She was one of three bowlers to concede more than 80 runs in the innings, doubling the number of India bowlers to have ever conceded that many.

Extraordinarily, Healy’s innings began by facing a maiden from Renuka Singh after she had walked through a guard of honour from India having been sent into bat. A trademark pull shot off Kashvee Gautam got her innings going. She added two more boundaries before receiving a slice of luck off Renuka when an lbw shout was given not out but DRS revealed it was umpire’s call on hitting leg stump.

The close call sharpened her focus. She played with great control to reach 50 off 49 balls.

Voll outpaced her skipper, continuing the crisp ball-striking she showed during her century in the second ODI on the same surface on Friday.

After some early edges found the rope she cruised to 48 before chipping Gautam to cover where Harmanpreet Kaur dropped a straightforward chance diving forward after misjudging the flight.

Voll reached 50 off 42 three balls later and thumped two more boundaries off Charani. But the return of Rana forced an error. First ball Voll jumped down to whip over midwicket and miscued wastefully to long-on with Harleen Deol holding on.

Healy felt her calf cramp not long after and started unfurling a full array of pulls, sweeps, glides and lofted drives over cover and mid-on. She had another slice of luck when Rana missed a difficult chance at short fine that went untouched to the fence.

Healy reached her eighth ODI century, the equal second-most for an Australian woman, off just 79 balls. Her assault on Charani immediately after was vicious. She took 23 off an over including four strikes over the off-side ring and a slog sweep over long-on. She followed that with another slog sweep off Deepti Sharma that landed in the dugout.

She needed just 16 balls to go from 100 to 150. A double century looked on, but her calf was clearly a problem. After a dazzling display of conventional strokeplay she attempted a bizarre premeditated reverse paddle sweep to a rank full toss from Rana and was bowled behind her back with 13.3 overs left in the innings.

Mooney’s innings mirrored Healy’s in many ways. She was 2 off 12 and before accelerating to reach 50 off 53. But her second fifty took just 29 balls as she showcased her incredible 360-degree skills.

She only struck 10 boundaries and one six but no two boundaries went in the same zone as she faced just two dot balls in her last 40 to finish off the innings alongside Carey, who thumped 22 from Charani’s last over including a stunning reverse sweep for six over point.

India’s chase started brightly with Pratika Rawal and Rodrigues racing to 62 inside eight overs after the early loss of Smriti Mandhana. Australia’s 19-year-old debutant Lucy Hamilton was driven repeatedly by Pratika and lapped relentlessly by Rodrigues. But Pratika was adjudged lbw to Annabel Sutherland, with ball tracking showing it was only just clipping leg. Rodrigues then fell to Ash Gardner, top edging a sweep to Hamilton at short fine.

India completely stalled thereafter with Deol run out after a mix-up and Harmanpreet trapped plumb lbw to King. It was the first of three lbw’s for Australia’s legspinner. She also clean bowled Richa Ghosh to continue her love affair with Bellerive Oval.

Brief scores:
Australia Women 409 for 7 in 50 overs (Alyssa Healy 158, Beth Mooney 106*, Georgia Voll 62; Shree Charani 2-106, Sneh Rana 2-66) beat India Women 224 in 45.1 overs (Sneh Rana 44, Jemmimah Rodrigues 42; Alana  King 4-33, Georgia Wareham 2-03) by 185 runs

[Cricinfo]



Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Latest News

Niroshan Dickwella in Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the first time since 2021

Published

on

By

Niroshan Dickwella's five-year T20I exile ended after being picked in the Asian Games squad [SLC]

Ashen Bandara and Niroshan Dickwella have earned recalls to Sri Lanka’s T20I squad for the Asian Games men’s cricket competition. Bandara last played an international in 2023 while Dickwella’s previous T20I came in 2021.

Sineth Jayawardena, Sohan de Livera, Wnuja Sahan and Garuka Sanketh received maiden T20I call-ups to the 15-member contingent to be captained by Sahan Arachchige.

Lanka opted to leave out most of their first-choice T20I players, and selected Bandara and Dickwella for their experience, even though they had an underwhelming LPL 2026.  Bandara played only three matches for Colombo Kaps for 28 runs while Dickwella scored only 110 runs at a strike rate of 142.85 for Dambulla Sixers.

Left-arm spinning-allrounder Sahan picked up nine wickets in ten LPL outings this year at an economy rate of 6.30, including a Player-of-the-Match spell of 2 for 8 in the Eliminator,  for Colombo. He also contributed with a 15 ball 34 not out earlier in the tournament. Fast bowler Sanketh impressed with his pace in the LPL though he did not take any wickets in his four outings this year. In the Major ClubsT20 Tournament that followed, he picked up 11 wickets at an economy rate of 8.87 while playing for Moors Sports Club.

Jayawardena and de Livera, both top-order left-hand batters, led the batting charts in the Major Clubs T20 Tournament with the former scoring 372 runs at a strike rate of 167.56 while the latter made 307 at 156.63. Jayawardena, who captained Sri Lanka at the Under-19 World Cup in 2024, smashed a 32-ball 82 to help Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club beat Sinhalese Sports Club in the final.

Legspinner Vijayakanth Viyaskanth found a spot after narrowly missing out on the England T20Is,  his chart-topping 17 wickets in the domestic tournament only enhancing his credentials. Allrounder Chamika Karunaratne, who struck 253 runs at 157.14 and was a key part of Galle Gallant’s charge to the LPL title, was also brought back.

Ambidextrous spinner Tharindu Ratnayake and legspinner Dushan Hemantha completed the spin options while slinger Nuwan Thushara and left-arm quick Binura Fernando added experience to the pace department.

Sri Lanka have earned a direct qualification to the quarter-final of the Asian Games, and play their first game on September 29 in Nisshin. Arachchige had captained Sri Lanka in the previous edition, too, where they lost to Afghanistan in their only outing and crashed out.

Sri Lanka’s Asian Games squad

Sahan Arachchige (capt), Niroshan Dickwella (wk), Lasith Croospulle, Sineth Jayawardena, Nuwanidu Fernando, Sohan de Livera, Ashen Bandara, Chamika Karunaratne, Tharindu Ratnayake, Wanuja Sahan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Dushan Hemantha, Nuwan Thushara, Binura Fernando, Garuka Sanketh

[Cricinfo]

Continue Reading

Latest News

ICC’s agenda for 2027-31: more T20Is, fewer bilateral ODIs

Published

on

By

More T20Is could come at the cost of bilateral ODIs [Cricinfo]

The ICC will get together in Dubai this week for a workshop in which the next Future Tours Programme (FTP) looms large, with members trying to put a shape to the next international cricket calendar cycle from 2027 to 2031.

Starting on Tuesday, the ICC will conduct a cricket operations workshop, which will feature discussions on the FTP, the current cycle of which ends in March 2027. Though lots of progress has been made in recent months, these meetings will not produce a final and comprehensive FTP yet because, as one official put it, there are still “so many moving parts”. Plenty of each member’s main commitments should be finalised, though, with the final FTP likely to be presented at the ICC quarterly meeting in November, scheduled to be held in Bali.

Increase T20Is, reduce bilateral ODIs

There is likely to be more T20Is between Full Members in the next cycle, and that would come at the cost of bilateral ODIs, as cricket struggles to fit everything it wants into a calendar year. T20Is are the ICC’s growth vehicle to expand the game, and its World Cup is also played every two years, as opposed to the four years for the 50-over version. Rudi van Vuuren, the Namibia Cricket chair and newly inducted ICC Board director, recntly said that he saw more opportunities for Associates in the T20 world.

That, though, doesn’t mean the ODI is dead. The World Cup remains the game’s showpiece event. But there has been talk among members of making ODIs more meaningful – not by bringing back the ODI Super League but by going retro with some 1990s staples like tri-series and quadrilaterals.

Big 3 commitments all but set

While the FTP is far from finalised, Cricinfo understands that Australia, England and India’s main commitments with each other have been set for some time. The Ashes will continue its usual pattern, with series in 2027 (in England), 2029-30 (in Australia) and 2031 (in England), while England will travel to India for a Test series in early 2028 before hosting them in 2029.

The 2027-31 cycle also throws up the challenge of the Los Angeles Olympics in the summer of 2028, where cricket marks its first appearance at the Olympics since 1900. The games will take place in July, midway through the English summer, and the week-long men’s T20 cricket event is expected to clash with England’s home Test series against West Indies.

The challenge for most of the other Full Members, as ever, will be to bake commitments first with India and then with Australia or England into their calendars. South Arica, for instance, are expected to host India immediately after the 2027 ODI World Cup, which they are co-hosting with Zimbabwe and Namibia in October-November.

The PCB, for whom bilateral cricket with India is not an option, have pushed for increased commitments with England and Australia. They have already announced a five-match ODI series against England next summer, although that began as discussions for a one-off Test if Pakistan would have been in the running for the World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 final. Pakistan also have a three-Test tour of Australia set for 2027-28.

WTC to remain nine teams?

The shape and format of the WTC, currently in its fourth cycle, has been the subject of much discussion over the last year, including talk of a two-tier league which was soon dismissed. In April this year, a presentation by an ICC working committee recommended the inclusion of Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Ireland in addition to the nine teams in the tournament, as well as including one Test series in the league.

Zimbabwe are believed to be keen to be on the WTC, though it isn’t certain whether Afghanistan and Ireland are. As things stand, it still isn’t clear whether the WTC will expand, at least for its next cycle from 2027-29, although we can expect some direction later this week.

New DRS vendors

A session on the second day of the meetings this week will discuss the ICC’s DRS accreditation programme, with the governing body looking to expand the base of review technology suppliers. At the moment, Hawk-Eye and Virtual Eye are the ICC’s approved suppliers for DRS technology in all international cricket.

[Cricinfo]

Continue Reading

Latest News

Ms. P. M. Jayadeera (Engineer) appointed Director General of Irrigation

Published

on

By

The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to appoint Ms. P. M. Jayadeera (Engineer) in the Special Grade of Sri Lanka Engineering Service serving at present as the Additional Secretary (Water Resources Development) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Lands and Irrigation to the post of Director General which will be vacant from 06.10.2026.

Continue Reading

Trending