Sydney, September 21
Meg Lanning’s ruthless Australia women’s team registered their 25th consecutive victory in One-day Internationals today after crushing India by nine wickets in the series opener in Mackay.
Teenage pace pair Darcie Brown and Hannah Darlington laid the foundation for their win, sharing six wickets between them and restricting India to a below-par 225/8 at the Great Barrier Reef Arena.
Spin not working
We have a lot to work in terms of our bowling department. Predominantly, we are spin attack and the spinners are getting hit everywhere, so that is something we need to tweak…
Dire need for partnerships
We need to have partnerships, rather than thinking about playing fearless cricket. The girls need to get down to building some partnerships in the middle and that definitely will give them confidence at some point to play fearless. Mithali Raj, India captain
Darcie Brown was excellent today. She bowled with good aggression and control, so it was nice to see her do really well. Hannah Darlington on debut did an excellent job as well Meg Lanning, Australia captain
Rachael Haynes then led their robust top-order reply with an unbeaten 93 as Australia romped home with nine overs to spare and go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
“I thought Darcie Brown was excellent today,” Lanning said of the bowler whose 4/33 also earned the 18-year-old the Player of the Match award. “She bowled with good aggression and control, so it was nice to see her do really well. I thought Hannah Darlington on debut did an excellent job as well,” she added.
Skipper Mithali Raj topscored for India with 63, her fifth consecutive fifty in this format, but could not accelerate.
Richa Ghosh chipped in with a breezy unbeaten 32 and No. 10 Jhulan Goswami made 20 to lend some respectability to their total.
Haynes raised 126 runs with fellow opener Alyssa Healy, who made a run-a-ball 77 to give Australia a flying start.
Lanning, who was 53 not out, then joined Haynes to guide the hosts to an easy victory.
A dejected Mithali said India did not get the early runs they were looking for after being put in to bat.
“We did not get a good start and the middle order had to try and compensate,” Mithali said. “A lot more was expected of the bowling department, especially our experienced spinners, whom we expect to perform on this sort of wicket,” she added.
Mackay hosts the next two One-dayers on Friday and Sunday, before the teams move to play one Test and three T20 Internationals. — Reuters
25 Matches This was Australia’s 25th consecutive victory in ODIs. They have extended the record for longest winning streaks by eight games.
7th loss for India in their last nine games. They lost four times to South Africa in the five-game series before losing the England series 2-1.
5th consecutive ODI half-century for Mithali Raj. She is two shy of her own world record of seven in a row.
59th ODI fifty for Mithali. It was her 80th half-century across all three formats.
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