Birmingham 7 August : Opening batsman Beth Mooney top-scored with 61 but a stunning comeback against India in the final five overs ensured that Australia ended up with 161/8 in the gold medal match of 2022 Commonwealth Games at Edgbaston on Sunday. Apart from the stand of 74 runs between captain Meg Lanning and captain Beth, the stand was 74 runs long.
Beth and captain Meg Lanning, Australia wasn’t allowed to break free , as India gave up just 36 runs in the final five overs, and took five scalps.India were awe-inspiring in fielding, making precise stops, catching fantastic catch and executing fantastic run-outs.
As for the ball Renuka Thakur and Sneh Rana both took two wickets as Deepti Sharma and Radha Yadav took one wicket each.
Renuka and Meghna Singh put pressure on Australia as nine runs were scored from the first two overs, with an uneasy four run for Alyssa Healy.
It was a great success for India after a last-minute review revealed Alyssa was trapped lbw after an inswinger by Renuka when she attempted to take an attack across the boundary in the third ball.
Beth started to get going with boundaries with drive and flick, while Meg hit a drive off-side, and then hit an easy six over long-off , as Australia was 39-1 in power-play.
Beth and Meg continued to alternate strike and hit boundaries until the pair took 17 runs off Harmanpreet’s first over with Meg being the Australia skipper scoring three fours against her Indian counterpart.
However, her impressive run was halted by Radha making an underarm strike to the non-striker’s finish on Beth throwing the ball back to the bowler, and catching Meg just inches away of her line.
Tahlia McGrath, who played despite being positive for Covid-19 fell flimsily when Radha took a full length dive towards her left the backward point to make an incredible capture off Deepti.Ashleigh Gardner had smashed some lines, including a massive six-over-long-on off Radha.
However, Sneh fooled her with loop and flight to be easily defeated by Taniyaa Bhatia.Beth made it fifty by slamming the ball with a full toss long-off.
However, India took scalps, as Grace Harris miscued to mid-on off Renuka.
In the next one, Beth tried to clear long-on off Sneh.But Deepti returned to mid-field and extended her right arm when she was losing her balance to complete a blinder with one hand.
India’s remarkable fielding display continued as Meghna made a sharp catch at mid-wicket that sent Alana King back , while Jess Jonassen was caught short of her crease by a straight strike from Smriti Mandhana.Australia finished with 161-8.
Brief Scores: Australia 161-8 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 61, Meg Lanning 36; Renuka Singh 2-25, Sneh Rana 2-38) against India
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