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Ellyse Perry swept aside all conjecture about her inclusion, as she played a key role in Australia’s defeat of West Indies that saw the Southern Stars claim an unprecedented sixth ICC Women’s World Cup cricket title.
A dominant bowling performance from Perry and Lisa Sthalekar saw the first-time finalists fall well short of the target of 260, subsiding in the 44th over to give Australia a 114-run win.
Six World Cup victories. The magnitude of that number is difficult to appreciate. Brazil’s great football sides have claimed five, Australia’s so-dominant men’s cricket team four.
Of course the pool of contenders in this tournament has been smaller than those others. But of the ten Women’s World Cups played, Australian teams have played in eight finals, and triumphed in three quarters of those.
It is a record that deserves far more recognition and support in their native land.
The most joyous aspect of this tournament, for fans of any persuasion, was the obvious development of that contender pool.
For only the second time, a team other than England, New Zealand, and Australia made the final. Not only that, but strides were made by teams like Sri Lanka and South Africa, as the evolution of a more competitive international community continued.
But this day was Australia’s, as a clinical performance in the field followed a strong outing with the bat. Excitement had been high among West Indies fans at home and online, with many stating that this was the most exciting thing to happen to Caribbean cricket in a long time.
It was a significant statement, just months after their men’s team had their own breakthrough in claiming the World Twenty20.
But this excitement didn’t manifest in the best fashion, with the young underdog side clearly nervous in both disciplines.
Jess Cameron was Player of the Match for her aggressive 75 from 76 balls, a knock that set up Australia’s innings, then Perry and captain Jodie Fields iced it in the death overs to lift a faltering side to 259.
It was only at the beginning of their innings that West Indies ever looked in the hunt. Kycia Knight and Natasha McLean were solid through the first ten overs, seeing off Megan Schutt, Julie Hunter, and Sthalekar to settle on 0/32. Wickets had not looked imminent.
Enter Perry. The dual cricket and football international had not played a match in the Super Six stage of the tournament, sidelined with illness and injury. She had only regained her place at the expense of Holly Ferling, the 17-year-old pace bowler who had been such a revelation at this tournament, with nine wickets in four matches.
One school of thought held that the team should stick with the woman in form, and that Perry would be too underdone to slot into a final. Her start didn’t allay those fears, as two attempts to bowl her first ball were abandoned during run-up.
But anyone who thinks her recall was based more on reputation than merit should now be wrestling their opinions back out of public view.
Having thoroughly freaked out her captain, Perry managed to bowl her first ball on her third attempt. It came out fast and accurate. Ending that over, she had Kycia Knight lbw. The next, she had key Windies batsman Stafanie Taylor caught and bowled. The next, McLean was trapped in front.
As far as any belief from the West Indies went, that was just about that.
On the defensive, Kycia’s twin sister Kyshona Knight and captain Merissa Aguilleira scored just ten runs from the bat in the next eight overs. Only when Knight retired hurt did a five-over flurry arise, with Aguilleira and Deandra Dottin striking two fours and three sixes.
But Sthalekar put paid to that with the first ball of her new spell, sending a dipping, turning off-spinner through Aguillera’s defences. The captain’s 23 would be her team’s top score.
The powerful Dottin has been the talisman for West Indies and the poster girl for the crossover appeal of the women’s game, ever since she set the record for the fastest T20 century in either men’s or women’s cricket, beating Chris Gayle’s mark by the small matter of 12 balls.
Her worth has been on show in this tournament, like her 20-ball half-century against Sri Lanka, or her match-saving 60 against Australia that sent her team into the final in the first place.
But at 4/88 when Aguilleira fell, 170 runs adrift and with 143 balls remaining, too much had been left to the star. One more boundary, four more overs, and Dottin went too, beaten by Sthalekar in flight to be clean bowled.
The rest was a procession. Sthalekar finished with the impeccable figures of 10 overs, 3 maidens, 2 for 20; Perry had 10 overs, 3 maidens, 3 for 19. Erin Osborne, Hunter, and Schutt rounded out the wickets.
The excellence of these bowling performances aside, it was a shame the match had ended so meekly after a spirited West Indies fightback in the field.
Australia had got off to a sharp start, with Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes taking 25 runs from the first four overs, out of an eventual partnership of 52. West Indies were contrastingly nervous, with fumbles, misfields and dropped catches.
After Lanning struck Taylor to mid-off, Cameron and Haynes combined for 64, the best partnership of the innings, despite the best efforts of teenage leg-spinner Shaquana Quintyne.
Showing her senior teammates how to keep one’s cool, Quintyne bowled eight nerveless overs on the trot, with none costing more than four runs. At precisely the halfway mark of the innings, she beat Haynes in flight to have her caught at midwicket for 52.
Alex Blackwell came and went quickly, but once Sthalekar arrived at the crease, Cameron exploded.
From the 30th over, Tremayne Smartt was looted for 19, including two enormous sixes and a no-ball. In 48 deliveries, the Australian pair put on 55 runs. Having wisely decided on quiet support, Sthalekar’s contribution was 12.
But a combination of Cameron’s dismissal and Quintyne’s final spell prompted an Australian slide. First, with the Powerplay mandatorily coming into effect, Cameron holed out, slamming a rank Shanel Daley full toss to deep midwicket for a run-a-ball 75.
Then in the 38th over, Quintyne had Sthalekar sweeping to square leg, and in the 40th, Sarah Coyte chipping to mid-on. The Powerplay had cost Australia 3/15.
English fans no doubt believe the collapse was purely to annoy them about not being in the final, but the impartial observer might offer some credit to Quintyne’s 3/27 from a full ten-over spell.
It was only with Osborne’s dismissal in the 44th over that Australia’s fortunes began to recover. That brought Perry to the crease to join Fields, and the two pushed hard for the side’s fourth 50-run partnership of the innings.
Perry cuffed 25 from 22 balls, including a mighty six over midwicket, while Fields was the beneficiary of two more dropped catches. In the space of those last 40 balls, Australia had wrested all the momentum.
When West Indies look back over this game, they will see this partnership, they’ll see the their poor fielding, and they’ll see their wasted catches. They will realise that with those controlled, they could have kept Australia near 200. Next time they play a big final, they’ll be better for the experience.
As for Australia, they will no doubt just stay still and soak this up for a while. And then, as they’ve so often done, it’ll be time to start looking to the next World Cup final, and whether they can get Holly Ferling the chance to play in that one.