Meg Lanning, Rachael Haynes guide Australia to World Cup warm-up win after top order fails
After another wobble from Australia’s top order, the team’s leaders, Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes put on a game-saving 83-run partnership to secure a four wicket win over South Africa in its World Cup warm-up.
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Nobody panic, but it appears the Australian Women’s Cricket Team is going into Friday’s opening ICC Women’s T20 World Cup game against India with a distinct case of the batting wobbles.
The Aussies' four-wicket win over South Africa in their official warm-up match at Adelaide’s Karen Rolton Oval on Tuesday was secured without their three top-order batters scoring significant runs.
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Chasing 148 for victory, Beth Mooney was out for 10 when she lifted the ball and caught at cover in the fourth over. And three balls later Ash Gardner was out for a duck caught behind.
Alyssa Healy continued her shocking run with the bat and again failed to make double figures when she was caught at backward square leg off the bowling of Nonkululeko Mlaba for nine.
This puts to six the number of matches she’s now failed to score above nine; after being Player of the Tournament at the 2018 T20 World Cup, she’s now made only 24 runs from her past six games.
In the run chase, the Aussies seemed in all strife when they slumped to 3/20 after four overs, but it was about to get worse. When star allrounder Ellyse Perry was bowled by Marizanne Kapp for five, the home side were 4/35.
So it fell to the team’s leaders, captain Meg Lanning and her vice Rachael Haynes to steady the ship.
They chugged the score along with some crisp, clean shots, Lanning sweeping the ball to the boundary and Haynes lifting it over the ropes, and together they put on a game-saving 83-run partnership which ended when Haynes was caught behind for 39. Lanning was out for 47 (36 balls) before Annabel Sutherland hit the winning runs with three balls to spare.
South Africa’s dynamic allrounder Marizanne Kapp took 4/16 from her four overs after making 22 runs (16 balls).
The two batting innings could not have been more contrasting.
While the Australians lost all their wickets in the opening overs, it was the opposite for South Africa, who were sent into bat earlier in the day by Australia.
It took until the 11th over for the Aussie bowlers to claim their first wicket, after Nicola Carey had been smacked for two boundaries and South African Lizelle Lee hit a long shot to the deep square leg boundary and was caught by Georgia Wareham along the rope, out for 29.
Fellow opener Dane van Niekerk was in excellent touch after it took her until the third over to get off strike by hitting teenager Annabel Sutherland for two fours from consecutive balls.
Van Niekerk brought up her half century in fine style by taking a couple of prances down the pitch and then whacking an Ellyse Perry delivery to the long on boundary for four.
Her entertaining innings of 62 off 51 balls, which included seven fours and three sixes came to an end with a vicious Delissa Kimmince ball that knocked out the stumps.
Once the Aussies had finally taken their first wicket, the others fell much more easily and the green and gold contained South Africa to 6/147.
One piece of excellent team work in the field saw Kapp run out for 22 runs after a diving Jess Jonassen saved a certain boundary and Lanning and Megan Schutt combined to get the ball back to the bowler’s stumps before Kapp could ground her bat.
Kimmince was the best of the Aussie bowlers, taking 2/34 from her four overs.