Australia 156 for six (Mooney 74*, Ismail 2-26, Kapp 2-35) beat South Africa 137 for six (Wolvaardt 61, Tryon 25, Gardner 1-20) by 19 runs
Let nobody affect you into believing this was a choke.
Reality be informed, this was a recreation of high-intensity cricket, becoming of a grand finale. The strain was immense, and Australia, extra expert and adept at dealing with big-match temperament – this was their seventh straight closing – got here up triumphs to clinch their sixth T20 World Cup title and their third in a row.
If anybody wanted extra validation that that is the perfect girls’s cricket workforce within the planet, it could not have been delivered extra convincingly. Australia made 156 appear to be 180, earlier than their bowlers stood tall on the face of a late assault from
Laura Wolvaardt that threatened to take the sport away.
South Africa wanted 59 off 30 balls at one stage, with Woolvardt pumping a packed Newlands crowd with a few of the most aesthetically-pleasing photographs. Then, a lot to their agony, she swiped throughout the road to a full supply from Megan Schutt and was trapped lbw. South African hearts sank, a teary Woolvardt trudged off slowly, and boisterous applause gave option to surprised silence.
Australia believed and Australia delivered.
For South Africa, it was a case of being so close to, but to date. Nonetheless, even in defeat,
Sune Luus & co had finished what no different South African senior workforce – males or girls – had finished: compete in a world closing. This was as bittersweet because it might get.
Harmful Healy falls early
4 overs in, this appeared a correct arm-wrestle with neither facet catching the sport by the scruff of its neck. The primary indicators of drama, that would not abate for the remainder of the night, got here within the fifth over when
Alyssa Healy bludgeoned a boundary down the bottom, after which noticed
Marizanne Kapp roar along with her wicket to complete the over. That wicket – led to by spongy bounce that had Healy slicing an tried lower to cowl – laid down a marker: that hit-the-deck stuff was going to be more durable to hit than fuller deliveries.
Shabnim Ismail then closed off the primary six overs with a maiden to have Australia 36 for 1, their slowest powerplay of the event.
Despatched in forward of Meg Lanning,
Ashleigh Gardner offset any little strain there could have been on Australia with a fierce counterattack. Two back-to-back fours off left-arm spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba have been adopted by back-to-back sixes off Nadine de Klerk, photographs that have been potential courtesy excellent footwork and a strong hitting base that allowed her to get beneath correct size deliveries. The assault put the strain proper again on South Africa. And simply when Australia have been starting to exert their dominance, Chloe Tryon deceived Gardner in flight to have her caught at long-off for a rampaging 21-ball 29. At 82 for two within the twelfth, Australia have been nonetheless in management.
Mooney retains calm, bats via
It did not take lengthy for
Beth Mooney to recalibrate her strategy. This wasn’t a floor the place she might fearlessly belt the ball. Manufacturing photographs weren’t simple because of the slowness; this was the identical deck on which each semi-finals have been performed. However she quietly slipped into the position of an accumulator, permitting the others to take cost, with out permitting dot-ball strain to creep up. As her innings progressed, Mooney manipulated the fields expertly. Traps set for the inside track at quick high-quality leg have been simply traps, as Mooney reverse-scooped over vacant quick third in selecting essential boundaries to make sure Australia did not lose momentum.
Ellyse Perry, Grace Harris and Lanning fed off this confidence, realizing that they had insurance coverage within the type of Mooney, to play their photographs. Whereas Ismail returned to select up two wickets within the closing over and concede simply two off her final 4 deliveries, Australia had put up a formidable rating. Mooney completed with an unbeaten 53-ball 74, her second straight half-century in a world event closing.
