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No sooner had Australia’s women’s cricket team slipped to a surprise loss at the ICC Women’s World Cup than the conspiracy theorists were emerging from their bunkers, their ranks predictably drawn from subcontinental Australia-haters and disgruntled Englishmen.
Australia had been upset by West Indies, collapsing while chasing a modest 164 to fall eight runs short. The upshot was that both teams qualified for the imminent World Cup final, claiming the top two positions in the Super Six stage.
Australia’s place was guaranteed, as they went into that final Super Six round with four wins as compared to West Indies’ three, and England and New Zealand’s two.
If West Indies lost, the winner of the England-New Zealand game would pass them for a spot in the final. Instead, West Indies beat the as-yet undefeated Australians, and leapfrogged them into top spot.
Where most online fans applauded the pressure and belief of West Indies in the chase, and the earlier batting heroics of Deandra Dottin, the disgruntled minority preferred slandering the efforts of the losing side and demeaning the efforts of the winners.
According to their theory, Australia would have preferred to face the greener West Indies side in the final than the traditionally stronger nations of England and New Zealand, and so manipulated results to that end.
There were also facetious links made to the dangerously vague Australian Crime Commission report, as proof that all Australians are officially cheats and liars.
The report has had the British press in particular whiffing up the schadenfreude, and their depiction of Australian sports culture has morphed overnight from one of Labradorish enthusiasm to one channelling the flint-eyed pragmatism of Grease drag racers.
As a child of the modern age, I can’t confidently tell you what codswallop actually means, but I still know a load of it when I see it.
Firstly, Australia’s women’s cricket team is particularly keen on winning. If they triumph in the upcoming final, it will be their sixth World Cup title.
Had they beaten West Indies, they would have won through to the final undefeated in this tournament. For psychological supremacy and pride both, that would have been an achievement worth fighting for.
Secondly, Australia has no reason to fear England or New Zealand. Both have already been dispatched by the Southern Stars this World Cup, and neither were in scintillating form. Australia would have faced either with confidence. Nor is there reason to expect West Indies to be a walkover. It’s no fluke that they topped the Super Six table.
While they’ve only recently begun to challenge the top sides, they are indisputably dangerous, featuring the kind of big hitters that other women’s teams can’t match.
And thirdly? If you have any skill in reading a match as opposed to a comments board, you’ll deduce that this one bears no suspicious marks.
Of course, the match situation is the main argument of those advancing the thrown-game theory. Australia fell chasing a small total, with a late collapse of 6/26, when 34 runs from those batters would have got them over the line. And did I mention there were three run-outs in the innings?
Case closed, it must be a set-up. Right?
Well, not so much. In a general sense, trouble chasing small totals is hardly a new phenomenon. Australia’s men’s side made 74 at the Gabba this summer, and Sri Lanka only passed that score by the skin of their teeth. Wickets tend to fall in patches, something exacerbated by the pressure of limited-overs cricket.
It’s also common to see run-outs as a mode of dismissal. Australia had four in their first match of this tournament, against Pakistan a fortnight ago. The Sri Lankan men’s team had three in the recent ODI at the MCG, including two off consecutive balls.
In this match specifically, had Australia had gone into it intending to lose, why did they bowl so tightly as to dismiss the West Indian team in 47 overs?
Why did they keep them to 164?
Why did they hold their catches, stop boundaries, stay alert in the field?
Erin Osborne bowled four maiden overs in her nine, and took 2/16. Lisa Sthalekar’s 10 overs yielded 1/24, with two maidens. Julie Hunter’s eight overs took 1/22, with two more maidens.
All up, ten maidens were bowled by the Stars, while Holly Ferling and Megan Schutt grabbed three wickets each.
Indeed, if Dottin hadn’t stormed the field with a lower-order 60 from 67 balls, West Indies wouldn’t have made triple figures.
This is hardly the performance of a bowling team open to an upset loss.
The same then applies to the batting. While the collapse came late, Australia’s started strongly: at one point 3/89, and later 4/130. Opener Rachael Haynes made 21, first drop Julie Cameron made 39, and No. 4 Alex Blackwell scored 45 – more than enough most times chasing so small a target.
Again, had the intent been to lose, surely three of the top four batters wouldn’t have provided such a solid start. A team aiming to falter would throw away wickets early, providing a setback that would justify a go-slow by their remaining teammates, and the erosion of their remaining line-up.
At 4/130, with only 34 needed from 11 overs, Australia were cruising. But Blackwell was pinned lbw, skipper Jodie Fields failed to smash one over mid-off, and the newly-arrived Hunter was run out by a sharp throw, all in the space of 14 balls.
In the kind of sequence that happens to teams all the time, Australia were suddenly 7/131, and thoroughly rattled.
From there, it was pretty well an even-money proposition. 33 runs required, plenty of balls to bowl, and number seven Erin Osborne left to shepherd the final three tailenders. It was the perfect scenario for nerves to fray.
Renee Chappell and Osborne put on nine before Chappell was trapped lbw. Megan Schutt saw another 16 added to the total, but a mix-up in the running saw her caught short of her ground. The last pair had eight runs left to score.
Osborne had battled, striking three boundaries and taking the bulk of the strike in facing 31 balls to make 19. But these final moments can go either way, and on this day it was against her.
She tried to scoop a Shanel Daley delivery over the keeper, got a nick instead, and saw it safely pouched. She had taken her side within reaching distance of a win, but fallen short.
For those actually paying attention to the match instead of glancing at a scoresheet, the run of this innings is perfectly reasonable. Similar results at any level are hardly rare. A few quick wickets can kill any team’s ascendancy, and an evenly-poised situation has to fall one way or the other.
These Australian women would have wanted to win every game, to enter the final unbeaten, and to win that too. Ricky Ponting’s side swept the tournament in 2007, and no doubt these players would have relished the same achievement. The only question over this match is whether they can set aside the result to come back in the final.
Those looking for signs of conspiracy or underhandedness will ultimately be disappointed. The only person more disappointed would have been Erin Osborne, walking off after that nick into the gloves on a warm Mumbai afternoon.