A committed effort in the field has helped the Southern Stars to a 25-run win over England in an ICC Women’s World Cup warm-up match at Village Green at the University of New South Wales this afternoon.
In the first of two warm-up games for both teams before the ICC Women’s World Cup starts on Saturday, England were in a strong position chasing Australia’s 8-214 before losing 4-2 in two overs to be dismissed for 189.
After being sent into bat, Australia made 8-214 with vice captain Alex Blackwell carrying her bat through the innings to top score with an unbeaten 91. Leah Poulton was the second highest scorer with 24, with Lauren Ebsary (18) and Rene Farrell (15 not out) the other main contributors.
“It was good to get out there today since we haven’t played for a couple of weeks. We’ve spent the past week in camp training so to have a hit out against some high quality opposition and test ourselves will help us a lot,” Southern Stars captain Karen Rolton said.
“The result doesn’t matter too much but we’re always happy to win, especially against a team like England who are one of the favourites for the World Cup.
“There are a few things that we need to work on though. I thought England was able to build some good partnerships in their innings which was something we couldn’t do with our batting. A score of 250 on this wicket and outfield would have been a good score, so for use to defend our total and hang in there was pleasing.
“There’s plenty for us to work on before the World Cup starts in all three areas of the game and that’s what we’ll be focusing on before our first match against New Zealand.”
The Southern Stars innings was hindered by an inability to build big partnerships, with a number of players making starts but failing to go on. Seven players made it to double figures but only Blackwell was able to keep her wicket and steer the Southern Stars through their tricky periods.
England’s bowlers were able to keep the Southern Stars in check for most of their batting innings with wickets falling at regular intervals. After a shaky start, Australia recovered to 4-61 before accelerating in the final overs to post a competitive total.
Despite the loss of Sarah Taylor off the first ball of its innings, the England chase began at a good tempo with Caroline Atkins and Claire Taylor taking the score to 49 before Atkins was run out by Alex Blackwell for 18 in the 13th over.
Two overs later, Erin Osborne claimed the important wicket of Claire Taylor for 35 but a handy partnership between Lydia Greenway and Charlotte Edwards again moved England into a promising position.
With Edwards (72) in control, England was ahead of the run rate entering the final 10 overs but its innings collapsed under the strain of the chase with two run outs ending the match.
The Southern Stars will play another warm-up match on Wednesday against Sri Lanka at Manly Oval in Manly. Play starts at 9.30am.
Southern Stars captain Karen Rolton will hold her pre-ICC Women’s World Cup media conference at the Menzies Hotel at 9.45am tomorrow morning. The media conference will be followed by an open media session, with Southern Stars squad members available to the media from 11am-11.30am.
