They have done it!
The Australian Women’s Cricket team have been crowned Women’s ODI World Cup Champions after a dominant 71 win over England in the final at Hagley Oval, Christchurch.
The Aussie women now have another trophy to add to their already bulging trophy cabinet and it was a fitting way for Meg Lanning to celebrate her 100th ODI appearance for Australia.
The day started with good news for Australian fans with Ellyse Perry returning to the team after missing the last two matches with back spasms. Unfortunately, that meant that Annabel Sutherland dropped out of the squad after playing an important role in the Australian semi-final win against the West Indies.
After naming an unchanged team from their semi-final, England captain Heather Knight won the toss and sent Australia in to bat. That may have been one of the highlights of Knight’s day.
I wonder whether she may have made a different choice at the toss if she could have looked into a crystal ball and seen what was to come.
Here are the talking points from today’s game.
Records tumble as Australia asserts their dominance
Australia came into the game as heavy favourites, having only lost two of 41 ODI matches since the last World Cup in 2017. That is an astonishing record and one which continued today thanks to several incredible performances in the Aussie team.
Let’s start with Alyssa Healy who scored 170 not out off 138 balls pushing Australia to a huge total of 5-356. It took 62 balls for Healy to score her first 50, but just another 38 deliveries before her second.
This was Healy’s second century in two games; a remarkable feat made even more impressive because she has hit both centuries in finals matches.
Her performance sent records tumbling.
It surpassed Karen Rolton’s 107 not out, which was the record high score for a women’s World Cup final. It was also the highest score in a men’s or women’s World Cup final, surpassing Adam Gilchrist’s 149 against Sri Lanka in 2007.
Healy even broke records set today. Rachael Haynes scored 68 runs, which pushed her to the top of the table, breaking the record for most runs at a women’s World Cup. But Healy decided that was a record she wanted to break too, outscoring her opening partner and claiming that record too.
So dominant was Healy’s performance that it overshadowed solid batting from others, including the 68 scored by Haynes and the 62 off 47 balls scored by Beth Mooney.
Australia’s batting has been impeccable throughout this tournament and has really left them almost untouchable throughout. That’s the beauty of having a batting line-up that runs so deep; a couple of cheap wickets at the start is not necessarily problematic because players like Meg Lanning, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Ashleigh Gardner are waiting to take their opportunity at the crease.
Australia celebrate winning the 2022 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup. (Photo by Kai Schwoerer-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
Good, but not good enough from England
To win this game, England needed to manage the best ever women’s ODI chase. Whilst Natalie Sciver kept them in the hunt, it was always going to be a difficult task when the next highest score behind Sciver’s 148 not out, was 27 by opener Tammy Beaumont.
It was an impressive century and performance for Sciver with an innings that was the third-highest in a World Cup, but ultimately she did not have the support she needed at the other end.
Alana King was the pick of the Australian bowlers, taking three wickets and dismissing Knight, Sophia Dunkley and Katherine Brunt. Megan Schutt also did plenty of damage removing both openers.
England chased admirably, but the reality is that with the investment that Australia and the states have made in women’s cricket, the Australian team is at another level to all the other teams.
There have been times that the Australian team has been challenged throughout this Tournament, but not enough to make me nervous or consider whether another team was going to seriously challenge them in the final.
England had their opportunities; with Healy being dropped on two occasions throughout her innings. The first drop happened when she was on 47 runs, with a simple mid-wicket chance being put down by Sciver and then she was put down again on 136.
Even the Tournament’s leading wicket-taker Sophie Ecclestone struggled, finishing her spell on 0-77.
Whilst England are working to catch up to Australia through the introduction of competition’s like the Hundred, the reality is that for the dominance of this Australian team to be consistently challenged, it is going to require much greater investment from other countries.
Until that happens, I see this Australian dominance continuing into the future.
Clear as mud
Guest
Yea Sinclair, Meg and Mott have created a fantastic vibe, players step in and out when needed, there seems no wash back even when a great like Jonassen misses out for structure and/or form. The point you make re fielding is incredibly important. And Lanning is the prime example in some ways. With back and shoulder injuries a couple of years back she was a bit of a liability. Now she is a killer in the covers and her slip work has gone through the roof. Perry and Gardner and now McGrath have arms to die for and Schutt is incredibly quick to ground balls. When Nic Carey comes in, the outfield catching goes up another notch. Mooney - well, she can do anything. Even. A little curvy Jink around the ropes to save 4 in the final. And does it set you apart? Absolutely, it sets the tone. I swear blind, because I was there, that the close but important win against SA in the drizzle at yue SCG in the T20WC was all down to presence in the field. Our score was meh on a tacky wicket against a real good attack. The DLS score was gettable for a lineup featuring Lee, Dane, Wolvaardt, Luus, Du Preez and Tryon. During the innings break, the SA squad were all broken up into little chats, possibly thinking the game wouldn’t even restart. I feel for them. It was very difficult and looked very iffy - I was relaying “rain intensity on my head” intel to Ismail across the gap in the stands. Anyway… the Aussie team, the full squad except Perry - in front of the stand, full fielding practise, diving and sliding in the rain. Erin Burns leading the way even though she wasn’t playing that night. SA must have noticed. We bowled one bad ball and didn’t fumble a single ball, ground or otherwise. Lanning was elite, Kimmence brilliant off her own bowling. Wolvaardt and Luus were great but we always looked likely to win. It was a brilliant 13 overs, all led by attitude, and then implementation.
TRhing-me
Roar Rookie
Well reported. Good to see the crowds turned out for the final of a one-horse race. The time has long since come for just the Territories and the States to enter a team in this one -sided World Cup. Australia is economically, physically, intellectually, monetarily, socially, culturally and systematically in a league of their own when it comes to playing women's cricket. The states and territories should play in one tournament while the Rest of the World plays in another.
WINSTON
Roar Rookie
A good read, thank you. The best team won, which is always a good thing. (As much as I was supporting South Africa). But wow, what a great tournament NZ hosted. My compliments
Kailash
Roar Rookie
Yeah maybe but I bet Australia wouldn't have got to 356 in first place they may have got 310 or 320 if Healy got out at 40 and that would have been more chaseable in final. And I am sure if Healy haven't played those two knocks in finals then Australia would have lost one of two finals.Dropping a destructive player like Healy puts a massive dent on opposition especially when healy is in form.You can't drop a destructive player like Healy in finals.If any batter other than Healy played that knock ,she would have got 150 off 140 in best case scenario.It straight away make a difference of 20 or 30 runs.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
I agree - but very hard to demand that sort of excellence when women are not full time professional athletes.
scrum
Roar Rookie
The Aussies a step above and dominated the tournament. However it can not be ignored that the fitness levels of some teams were clearly below international standard and some of the fielding woeful. For a lot of the teams there is a lot of ground for improvement to be at a level expected at a World Championship.
Targa
Roar Rookie
Congrats Australia. Just too good. That innings from Healy was stunning, and Sciver's knock was pretty special too. Great tournament and well-followed by Kiwis. I feared the interest might die after the White Ferns missed the semis, but it was still popular.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Excellent summary Mary. As I said yesterday the disappointing thing for me was no coverage on the Roar. Sad that one of the current and potentially best ever teams can't get some basic coverage, regardless of their gender.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Kailash, is it that simple? Australia have lost Healy cheaply several times in this tournament. But what happens when that happens is we see the likes of Lanning, Mooney or McGrath step up. That's one of the things that makes this team so incredible - the depth of their batting line up.
Mary Konstantopoulos
Expert
Simoc, I think in order to ensure that competition arises we absolutely need to see more investment from other countries. Australia have been the dominant team for three years. On the sideline for this tournament were Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck and Sophie Molineaux. I almost feel like the Australia A team would have been competitive. To make sure we continue to develop and create top quality cricketers across the world, it is going to require investment from other countries.
Sinclair Whitbourne
Roar Rookie
Thanks for the write ups, Mary - always informative, even handed and good to read. I loved pretty much every minute of this tournament as a whole; cricket played with real competitive grit and ambition, but also a sense of joy, even in the final and even from players on the side staring down the barrel of a loss. A privilege to watch a magnificent unit like the Australian side. These types of sides don't come along that often. Having this combination of great players is rare, but it doesn't always equate to a great unit, as opposed to a unit of greats. What really set this group aside was the very visible sense of team spirit and a commitment to the smaller parts of the game, things that are largely doable by even the relatively talentless if they are prepared to put in the time and effort and have some good coaching - things like holding most of your catches (here I am not talking about the exceptional ones, such as Mooney's at square leg, Jonassen's breathtaking caught and bowled and the absolute screamer from Gardner - each of those had an element of genius), getting your body behind the ball in the field and being fit enough to consistently have your body in the right position, improving your throwing technique, running in support of the main fielder going for the ball and applying pressure through running between wickets. It was in the small things that Australia was clearly better than the rest. Imagine if England had held the two catches in one over from both openers in the final. Both had already made good starts and there were some rather handy players to follow, but it does show me where some relatively achievable gains can be made by sides wanting to close the gap. Training and perseverance won't create the talent of Mooney, or Healy or King (to name but a few) - you can't coach talent, but you can put the polish on. Wonderful stuff and a real tonic for the spirit.
Tony
Roar Guru
Mooney is next level.
Kailash
Roar Rookie
England lost the match when Healy was dropped on 41.Same thing happened to India in t20 final when Healy was dropped on 10.In the end she was the diffentiator in both matches.So next time please don't drop Healy in knock out matches.
Griffo 09
Roar Rookie
Wonderful performance by the aussies, particularly Healy. What an epic innnings and in a world cup final no less. I can't help but feel England went too hard too early. If you work on the formula of 2.5x total at 25 over mark or 2x total at the 30 over mark, they were well ahead of where they needed to be. The caveat on those formulas is you need to have wickets in hand, which they did not have. Perhaps a slightly more measured approach would have got them closer. In contrast, Australia's innings was textbook perfect.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Well done Australia.. rest have some real catching up to do and if serious about the game some tough decisions to make if they wish to close the gap .
JGK
Roar Guru
Healy is incredible in knockout matches. And I think unread somewhere that since the last WC. Aust are 40-2 in ODIs.
Simoc
Guest
This team is at another level compared to most but it's not usual to have so many outstanding players at the same time. Mostly I think Beth Mooney is the consistently the best bat in womens cricket but with Lanning, Perry and Healy also World class and Heyns, Gardner and McGrath so close to them, they should be as unbeatable as they appear to be. Make the most of it because these Eras pass. There is plenty of competition on the horizon. Congratulations to the team on an outstanding tournament. Deserved winners.
La grandeur d'Athéna
Roar Rookie
Ricky Ponting : We are greatest cricketing empire in cricketing history :stoked: Meg Lanning : Hold my beer :laughing: :laughing:
Sgt Pepperoni
Roar Rookie
Great performance from the Aussies. What a total and great bowling and fielding to back it up. What a team
Jo Park
Roar Rookie
Shiver plays the game like an Aussie, and Haynes was the player of the tournament, consistent the whole series.