Australia’s master and her apprentice secured an eight-wicket win over Pakistan in the ODI in Brisbane.
Phoebe Litchfield, 19, made a stylish unbeaten 78 off 92 balls in her ODI debut to combine with returned Australian captain Meg Lanning (67 off 76) in a comfortable victory at Allan Border Field.
Australia’s spinners had put the brakes on and took wickets to restrict Pakistan to 8-160 in their reduced 40-over innings after rain interrupted play.
The hosts’ target was reduced to 158 under the DLS system and they reached it with 67 balls to spare.
Litchfield fittingly hit the winning run after a debut to remember.
Lanning was playing her first game for Australia since last year’s Commonwealth Games after taking a five-month break from the game.
It was like she had never been away. The 30-year-old got off the mark with a trademark square drive for four and went about her work with customary assurance.
Opener Litchfield, who had made her T20 international debut in India last month, played with maturity beyond her years. She punished the bad balls and kept out the good. Her exquisite driving was a highlight.
The duo upped the ante and toyed with the Pakistan bowlers as their 137-run second-wicket stand progressed.
Litchfield is a great find for Australian cricket after the retirement of Rachael Haynes. She looks set to be a fixture at the top of the Australian order for years to come.
Earlier, Australia’s spinners Jess Jonassen (2-23), Ash Gardner (1-15) and Alana King (1-21) all found a perfect length in the 19 overs they bowled between them.
Wicketkeeper Beth Mooney was outstanding behind the stumps to back them up, with a deft legside catch to dismiss Bismah Maroof (28) off Gardner and a slick stumping off King to remove Aliya Riaz (11).
Veteran Pakistan allrounder Nida Dar (59) played a composed and stylish knock but lacked support.
Ace
Roar Rookie
Yes, I should have mentioned the bowling of Sunderland. Although reading today it seems it was a case of the three spinners putting the clamps on with 19 0vers and 4 wickets
matth
Roar Guru
They are definitely a second tier side. Good to see us giving them a game
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Weak indeed. I saw a couple of minutes of highlights and Pakistan had one bowler who looked like she would struggle to make an under 16Bs boy’s team.
Clear as mud
Guest
Or a bowl. I swear some of these formats should be 9-a-side?!
Ace
Roar Rookie
Gotcha. I think Healy will be very pleased that she is released from the captaincy. Depth is incredible. When you think of Sunderland's good batting form and she's not getting much of a bat. Cheers
Short Arm
Roar Rookie
No, she's still injured but she took over the captaincy beforehand when in India. Just referring to her captaincy verses Meg's.
Ace
Roar Rookie
I don't think Healy played Short Arm or am I misreading what you have written
Clear as mud
Guest
yes I like Midge a lot, she's a great fixture of the game, and has captained NSW, but nothing screamed to me "make her skipper". especially having to open and keep as well. my only rationalisation, they have McGrath locked in post-Lanning, but if she took over now and either tanked it, or did really well, we have a quandary when Meg was to come back. whereas most people probably saw it as pure short-termism and a reward for service?
Short Arm
Roar Rookie
Great to see Lanning back, not only for her batting but for the captaincy. Healy was average.
Clear as mud
Guest
Yes it was just a game. We shouldn’t ask Mooney to keep 50 overs and open when she usually does neither in this format. The faster bowlers were sloppy with line and we almost wided them to a score. A lot of rust and it’s weird that many of them skipped the last WNCL game. Lanning started to find the full range of rapier cuts and square drives - she will face better bowling than this in SA, but it’s nice to have her back. Litchfield. We know the talent. I didn’t think she had done enough to get picked applying a comparative justice filter. But everyone knows she will be a 10 year superstar. What happens when Healy come back, it’s hard to fit the allrounder batting we have already. And we will get a better idea when she faces a better attack or has to hunt a bigger score. Interesting to see if they rotate for game 2. Hasn’t been a recent feature. I suspect Nic Carey’s international future hangs by a thread - and after her WBBL shocker she can’t really be surprised.
matth
Roar Guru
Nice low pressure environment for Litchfield to debut, against a weaker team and batting beside Meg Lanning. Also a good way for Lanning to ease back in
JohnB
Roar Rookie
Can someone explain to me how it is that per DLS Pakistan starts batting when the game is scheduled to be 50 overs, then there are rain delay/s such that the game is reduced to 40 overs per side (meaning that Pakistan's innings is reduced after it had begun and the "resources" available to them were reduced from what they expected them to be, while Australia always knew their innings would be 40 overs) yet Pakistan's total (and Australia's target) are decreased? I'd have expected that there'd be a slight increase in both. It makes no difference to the result but I don't get the logic.