Shelley Nitschke and Lauren Ebsary stroked fine half-centuries as defending champion Australia defeated Pakistan by 107 runs in a Super Six stage match of the ICC Women’s World Cup 2009, keeping alive its hopes of reaching the final.
Nitschke scored a flawless 56 while Ebsary hit a dogged 51 as Australia scored 229-5 in its allotted 50 overs after electing to bat first. Pakistan, in turn, always looked like it was struggling against an experienced and penetrative bowling attack and was eventually bowled out for 122 in 45.1 overs, despite having been 65-1 at one stage.
It was Pakistan’s highest score against Australia after it was bowled out for 23 and 27 in the previous two matches against the five-time champion in Melbourne and Hyderabad, India, in 1997.
The victory has put Australia on four points along with India and New Zealand who have played one fewer match but go head to head at the North Sydney Oval on Tuesday in front of ESPN STAR Sports cameras. The winner of tomorrow’s match will strengthen its claims for a place in the 22 March final as both the teams will then play their last matches on Thursday against lower-ranked sides, with New Zealand facing Pakistan and India meeting the West Indies.
Two-time champion England is sitting pretty on six points with games against the West Indies and Australia still to come. A win over the West Indies at Drummoyne on Tuesday will guarantee it a place in the final for the first time since 1993 and will also equal Australia’s world record of 17 consecutive women’s ODI victories.
Nitschke, who was later declared player of the match, admitted Australia’s fate rested on the other results which was not what her team had expected in the lead-up to the tournament.
“I guess we probably have been a little bit (disappointed up till now),” she said.
“It’s been a good build-up for years, it’s the World Cup, it’s in Australia, we’re the favourites and wanted to do well and we obviously find ourselves in a position where we are relying on some other results to get us through. So from that prospective, it probably has been a little bit disappointing, but now we’re just trying to stay positive and play good cricket and keep winning,” she said.
“We are taking one step at a time at the moment. We are just happy to come here, play some good cricket, get a good win and now we’ll start looking forward to the England match and planning for that.
“Pakistan showed that it has improved and the same with the West Indies. Both the teams have some good players, so if they can go well you never know.
“We probably haven’t won as convincingly as we would have liked in some of the other games so to win that today quite convincingly like that was really good for us as a team. (We just need) to keep rolling and to keep winning and do what we can from this point,” she added.
At the Bankstown Oval, Sydney, in front of more than 1,000 spectators, including school children and local residents, Australia showed its bench strength when it rested captain Karen Rolton, Lisa Sthalekar, Delissa Kimmince and Emma Sampson but still batted well to reach 229-5 against an ever-improving Pakistan bowling which was once again well supported by the fielders.
Nitschke held the top order together in the first half of Australia’s innings which saw the home side score 108-1, while Ebsary took the charge in the second half of the innings to ensure the home team collected a further 121 runs to reach a winning score of 229-6, including 32 runs in its batting PowerPlay which it took between the 41st and 45th overs.
Nitschke put on 100 runs for the first wicket with Lauren Poulton (47 off 86 balls) while Ebsary added 69 runs for the fourth wicket with Jodie Fields (36 off 41 balls). Nitschke’s 64-ball knock included five fours and a six while Ebsary, dropped twice by Sana Mir off her own bowling when she was seven and 19, hit two fours in a 71-ball knock.
Pakistan, playing its fifth match since the tournament began on 7 March, was sharp in the field despite dropping two catches. The bowlers also made the Australia batters work hard for their runs when they bowled straight and according to the field.
Pakistan started off nicely despite losing Nain Abidi when the score was on 19 to reach 65-1 in 17.2 overs before it lost its last nine wickets for 57 runs to be bowled out for 122 with 4.5 overs to spare.
Wickets were evenly shared between Leah Poulton, Ellyse Perry and Rene Farrell who shared two wickets apiece.
Scores in brief:
At Bankstown Oval, Sydney, Australia 229-6, 50 overs (Shelley Nitschke 56, Lauren Ebsary 51, Leah Poulton 47, Jodie Fields 36; Sana Mir 2-36)
Pakistan 122 all out, 45.1 overs (Asmavia Iqbal 36, Bismah Maroof 24; Leah Poulton 2-9, Ellyse Perry 2-16, Rene Farrell 2-23)
Australia won by 107 runs
Fixtures for Tuesday
17 Mar – India v New Zealand, North Sydney Oval
17 Mar – England v West Indies, Drummoyne
Points table
TEAM PLAYED WON LOST POINTS NNR
England 3 3 0 6 +0.62
Australia 4 2 2 4 +0.91
India 3 2 1 4 +0.32
New Zealand 3 2 1 4 -0.62
Pakistan 4 1 3 2 -0.99
West Indies 3 0 3 0 -0.16
Forthcoming matches:
19 Mar – Australia v England, North Sydney Oval
19 Mar – India v West Indies, Bankstown
19 Mar – New Zealand v Pakistan, Drummoyne
21 Mar – third-fourth position play-off, Bankstown
21 Mar – fifth-sixth position play-off, Drummoyne
22 Mar – Final, North Sydney Oval
Nitschke scored a flawless 56 while Ebsary hit a dogged 51 as Australia scored 229-5 in its allotted 50 overs after electing to bat first. Pakistan, in turn, always looked like it was struggling against an experienced and penetrative bowling attack and was eventually bowled out for 122 in 45.1 overs, despite having been 65-1 at one stage.
It was Pakistan’s highest score against Australia after it was bowled out for 23 and 27 in the previous two matches against the five-time champion in Melbourne and Hyderabad, India, in 1997.
The victory has put Australia on four points along with India and New Zealand who have played one fewer match but go head to head at the North Sydney Oval on Tuesday in front of ESPN STAR Sports cameras. The winner of tomorrow’s match will strengthen its claims for a place in the 22 March final as both the teams will then play their last matches on Thursday against lower-ranked sides, with New Zealand facing Pakistan and India meeting the West Indies.
Two-time champion England is sitting pretty on six points with games against the West Indies and Australia still to come. A win over the West Indies at Drummoyne on Tuesday will guarantee it a place in the final for the first time since 1993 and will also equal Australia’s world record of 17 consecutive women’s ODI victories.
Nitschke, who was later declared player of the match, admitted Australia’s fate rested on the other results which was not what her team had expected in the lead-up to the tournament.
“I guess we probably have been a little bit (disappointed up till now),” she said.
“It’s been a good build-up for years, it’s the World Cup, it’s in Australia, we’re the favourites and wanted to do well and we obviously find ourselves in a position where we are relying on some other results to get us through. So from that prospective, it probably has been a little bit disappointing, but now we’re just trying to stay positive and play good cricket and keep winning,” she said.
“We are taking one step at a time at the moment. We are just happy to come here, play some good cricket, get a good win and now we’ll start looking forward to the England match and planning for that.
“Pakistan showed that it has improved and the same with the West Indies. Both the teams have some good players, so if they can go well you never know.
“We probably haven’t won as convincingly as we would have liked in some of the other games so to win that today quite convincingly like that was really good for us as a team. (We just need) to keep rolling and to keep winning and do what we can from this point,” she added.
At the Bankstown Oval, Sydney, in front of more than 1,000 spectators, including school children and local residents, Australia showed its bench strength when it rested captain Karen Rolton, Lisa Sthalekar, Delissa Kimmince and Emma Sampson but still batted well to reach 229-5 against an ever-improving Pakistan bowling which was once again well supported by the fielders.
Nitschke held the top order together in the first half of Australia’s innings which saw the home side score 108-1, while Ebsary took the charge in the second half of the innings to ensure the home team collected a further 121 runs to reach a winning score of 229-6, including 32 runs in its batting PowerPlay which it took between the 41st and 45th overs.
Nitschke put on 100 runs for the first wicket with Lauren Poulton (47 off 86 balls) while Ebsary added 69 runs for the fourth wicket with Jodie Fields (36 off 41 balls). Nitschke’s 64-ball knock included five fours and a six while Ebsary, dropped twice by Sana Mir off her own bowling when she was seven and 19, hit two fours in a 71-ball knock.
Pakistan, playing its fifth match since the tournament began on 7 March, was sharp in the field despite dropping two catches. The bowlers also made the Australia batters work hard for their runs when they bowled straight and according to the field.
Pakistan started off nicely despite losing Nain Abidi when the score was on 19 to reach 65-1 in 17.2 overs before it lost its last nine wickets for 57 runs to be bowled out for 122 with 4.5 overs to spare.
Wickets were evenly shared between Leah Poulton, Ellyse Perry and Rene Farrell who shared two wickets apiece.
Scores in brief:
At Bankstown Oval, Sydney, Australia 229-6, 50 overs (Shelley Nitschke 56, Lauren Ebsary 51, Leah Poulton 47, Jodie Fields 36; Sana Mir 2-36)
Pakistan 122 all out, 45.1 overs (Asmavia Iqbal 36, Bismah Maroof 24; Leah Poulton 2-9, Ellyse Perry 2-16, Rene Farrell 2-23)
Australia won by 107 runs
Fixtures for Tuesday
17 Mar – India v New Zealand, North Sydney Oval
17 Mar – England v West Indies, Drummoyne
Points table
TEAM PLAYED WON LOST POINTS NNR
England 3 3 0 6 +0.62
Australia 4 2 2 4 +0.91
India 3 2 1 4 +0.32
New Zealand 3 2 1 4 -0.62
Pakistan 4 1 3 2 -0.99
West Indies 3 0 3 0 -0.16
Forthcoming matches:
19 Mar – Australia v England, North Sydney Oval
19 Mar – India v West Indies, Bankstown
19 Mar – New Zealand v Pakistan, Drummoyne
21 Mar – third-fourth position play-off, Bankstown
21 Mar – fifth-sixth position play-off, Drummoyne
22 Mar – Final, North Sydney Oval
ICC Women's World Cup 2009 News - Monday, March 16, 2009 7:31:07 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment