Fifties from Alyssa Healy (72) and Meg Lanning (97) helped Australia make it five wins out of five in the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 with a six-wicket victory over India in Auckland.
Chasing 278 for the win, the game went into the final over but Beth Mooney finished the game off in style as Australia became the first team to book a berth in the semi-finals of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022.
With the win, Australia also broke the record for the highest successful run-chase in Women’s World Cup history, surpassing the one they set against Sri Lanka in the 2017 edition of the tournament.
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Alyssa Healy, along with Rachael Haynes, took the game away from India with a brilliant 121-run opening stand. With wickets in hand, Lanning’s spectacular innings of 97 got Australia close to the finish line before Mooney took the team home in the final over.
Healy set the tone from the get-go, smashing five boundaries in the first five overs to get Australia off to a flying start. Rachael Haynes, who was mostly a silent spectator in the early exchanges, wasn’t to be left far behind as she too got in on the act, finishing the Powerplay at a run-a-ball 25.
Australia looked in command throughout, and apart from a couple of run-out opportunities, didn’t really offer India any chances on the field.
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Healy slowed down after the fielding restriction were lifted and got to her 15th ODI fifty. India, on the other hand, desperate for wickets burnt both their reviews in consecutive overs to lbw decisions.
The opening pair brought up the second 100-run opening stand in this edition of the World Cup – the first one being the partnership between Deandra Dottin and Hayley Matthews, which also came against India.
India finally broke through in the 20th over with the wicket of Healy. The reverse-sweep off Sneh Rana went straight into the hands of Mithali Raj at third, thus breaking the 121-run stand.
One wicket brought two as Vastrakar’s well-directed short-ball hurried Raynes, edging the ball to the gloves of Richa Ghosh. At the halfway stage, Australia were 142/2, still 136 runs away from a win with Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry at the crease.
The pair did not allow the pressure of quick wickets to get to them, scoring boundaries regularly to keep the required rate in check. Indian bowlers were guilty of bowling too many balls short of length and Lanning happily put them away for boundaries.
Australia needed 8 off the final overs and a boundary off the first ball by Mooney took the pressure off the team. They took two more off the second ball before a boundary on the third ball sealed the game for Australia.
Australia defeat India by 6 wickets and win their fifth #CWC22 match on trot 🙌 pic.twitter.com/nurjWuWH9N
— ICC Cricket World Cup (@cricketworldcup) March 19, 2022
Earlier, Mithali Raj (68), Yastika Bhatia (59) and Harmanpreet Kaur (57*) all scored well-compiled half-centuries, as India registered 277/7 from their 50 overs at Eden Park.
Raj and Bhatia helped pace the innings through the middle overs by putting on 130 runs for the third wicket, before Kaur and Pooja Vastrakar (34 off 28 balls) put the finishing touches on the innings with some lofty late blows.
The victory ensured the six-times World Cup winners will finish in the top four of the opening round standings to secure a place in the semi-finals ahead of their last two group matches against South Africa and Bangladesh.
India must now win their final group matches against the same two teams to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last four.
