Team of the Month: a May-born World Cricket XI
This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
Australian captain Meg Lanning won’t rule out further surprise selection moves as her team aims for a third straight women’s Twenty20 World Cup.
Wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy was demoted from opener in Thursday’s nail-biting eight-run semi-final victory over the West Indies in Bangladesh.
Despite Jess Jonassen’s promotion to opener not paying off, Healy justified the shuffle.
Coming in at No.7, the niece of former Test wicketkeeper Ian Healy smacked a 21-ball 30 to lift Australia to 140.
Those late runs would prove crucial.
Big-hitting Deandra Dottin and Stacy-Ann King shared a 73-run stand for the Windies which nearly helped the Caribbean team cause an upset.
In the end, Dottin’s dismissal for 40 in the penultimate over was enough for the Australians to claim a thrilling win.
Lanning said the batting order shuffle was part of a belief that Twenty20 success comes down to invention both in tactics and playing styles.
She said further tinkering for Sunday’s final wasn’t out of the question.
“You’ve got to try different things,” Lanning told AAP.
“It worked for us today and we’ll have to see what we come up with for the final.”
Australia’s 140 was their lowest total batting first in the tournament.
Lanning felt the team failed to build partnerships and also didn’t completely execute their plans with the ball.
“You’d always love to have 10-15 more runs,” she said.
“We probably didn’t put the partnerships together that we wanted to.
“I don’t think we’ve played the perfect game yet so hopefully we do that in the final.”
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This series’ twelfth and final team has a distinct West Indian flavour at the top of the order, and a domineering captain.
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