Australia 164 for 6 (Mooney 79, Dottin 3-35, Henry 2-28) beat West Indies 121 for 6 (Joseph 45, King 3-14, Wareham 2-14) by 43 runs
At 76 for 1 in the 12th over, West Indies had a base as chances kept slipping through the hands of Australia’s fielders, but ultimately a target of 165 proved well out of reach as King had the ball on a string to claimed 3 for 14. The home side lost 3 for 0 in 10 balls to decide the contest.
Australia captain Sophie Molineux did not bowl (although she still had seven options to call on) as she returned from the back injury that curtailed her India series. Ellyse Perry made a rare appearance with the ball for two overs.
Mooney changes gears
At the 10-over mark, Australia were going at less than a run-a-ball on 57 for 2. But shortly before drinks Mooney had ended a run of 21 balls without a boundary when she lofted Hayley Matthews over cover and it signaled a change of tempo from Australia.
In the 12th over against Karishma Ramharack, Perry collected a four and six from consecutive deliveries and in the 14th Mooney sent Jahzara Claxton over wide long-on on the way to a 42-ball fifty which was brought up with another boundary. Another six off Matthews appeared to signal the final charge for Australia, but it didn’t quite transpire that way.
Perry picked out long-on, Mooney then found mid-off and Ashleigh Gardner fell second ball as Deandra Dottin and Chinelle Henry made Australia hit into the breeze in the death overs. Dottin conceded a hefty number of wides in the process but it cut down the boundary options for Australia. There were only three fours in the last four overs.
Catch it (or not)
It didn’t prove costly, but there was a period where you wondered if Australia would hold another catch. The trend started when King put down a tough one above her head in her opening over when Matthews drove the ball back firmly but the next by Tahlia McGrath at mid-off (to again reprieve Matthews) was regulation.
King was the culprit again when one went through her hands at deep square leg in the ninth over, and things did not get better. Straight after drinks Perry spilled a sitter at long-on and a couple of overs later Georgia Voll failed to hold a firmly-struck drive at mid-off. “We’ll look to tidy that up,” Molineux said post-match. The good news for Australia was that, despite the missed chances, the asking rate continued to climb out of West Indies’ reach.
King reigns
King did not make the T20I squad for the recent series against India with the selectors making clear that Georgia Wareham remains No. 1 in this format. She produced a spell that will challenge that theory.
Either side of the fielding errors she claimed the huge wicket of Matthews who had taken eight balls to get off the mark amid a lack of strike in the powerplay which left her frustrated. Qiana Joseph had given a glimpse of her hitting power but the often-discussed problem of West Indies’ volume of dot balls was a feature of the innings
The ball after Voll made it five drops, King trapped Shemaine Campbelle on the reverse sweep and following a brief rain delay she beat Deandra Dottin’s sweep to effectively decide the contest.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
