A dazzling innings from captain Karen Rolton guided the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars to a narrow two-run win over India in their Twenty20 International at Hurstville Oval in Sydney this afternoon.
Player-of-the-match Rolton smashed 44 from 23 balls, including eight boundaries, as the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars claimed the first Twenty20 International between the teams.
In reply to the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars’ 4-142, India steadily built their innings and needed six off the final ball to tie and force a shootout, but Mithali Raj could only manage a boundary to give the home team a hard-fought win.
Raj top-scored for India with 51 from 45 balls and was well-supported by Sulakshana Naik (32) and Jhulan Goswami (27 not out) as India mounted a spirited run chase.
“Quite a few Twenty20 games are very tight and it seems to be the nature of the game that results finish up that way. They got a run-on late in their innings but I thought we protected the boundaries well at the end,” Rolton said.
“It was good batting performance to post the score we did. We were a bowler down due to Shelley Nitschke’s injury which made it difficult, but it was good experience heading into the first one-day match on Friday.
“We hadn’t seen a couple of their spin bowlers before today so it was good to have a look at them and gather some more information before the one-day series starts.”
After being sent into bat, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars scored 4-142 after some clean hitting from Rolton in the final two overs ensured the home team posted a competitive total.
Nitschke (49 from 40) was the other main contributor with the bat despite suffering a thigh injury early in her innings. Nitschke batted with the aid of a runner to top score for the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars, with four boundaries and two sixes.
With India struggling at 2-11 in the third over of their run chase, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars limited their opponent’s scoring options and pushed the required run rate quickly past nine per over.
Although they appeared out of the match, Raj and India captain Goswami dragged their team back into contention in the final eight overs with an unbroken 60-run partnership that ended just short of the target.
Tomorrow, the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars will be involved in the launch of the ICC Women’s World Cup at Circular Quay in Sydney.
The team will be joined by ICC President David Morgan, CA Chairman Jack Clarke and players from India, England and New Zealand at the function overlooking Sydney Harbour to launch the tournament that will be played from 7-22 March 2009 in Sydney, Newcastle, Canberra and Bowral.
The function will start at 12.30pm at Cruise Bar.
The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars and India will start their five-match one-day international series on Friday at Hurstville Oval. The match starts at 10am.
Match Schedule – Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars v India ODI Series
Friday 31 October: Hurstville Oval, 10am
Saturday 1 November: SCG, 10am
Wednesday 5 November: North Sydney Oval, 10am
Saturday 8 November: Manuka Oval, 10am
Sunday 9 November: Manuka Oval, 10am
