Australia 68 for 1 (Lanning 36*) beat Barbados 64 (King 4-8, McGrath 3-13) by nine wickets
Tahlia McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner added three and two wickets respectively as Barbados’ experienced top order crumbled and Australia kept them to a total that would always be nearly impossible to defend against such formidable opposition.
Gold medal favorites Australia top Group A with two wins from as many matches and they will face Pakistan in their final group stage match on Wednesday as India and Barbados, each with one win so far, face off against the other half. final place .
Not this time, captain
After scoring half a century and sharing a 107-run partnership with Kycia Knight in their opening win over Pakistan, Barbados captain Hayley Matthews made the money as Darcie Brown struggled with her line and height at the start. Matthews rocketed Brown’s first ball through back point for four and unfolded a creaky cover drive to find the boundary again three balls later. She sent the first ball of Brown’s next through the covers, then swung her over the leg side for successive boundaries, but Brown responded when she let Matthews out and try to whack her over the leg side again, only to send the ball to a waiting Grace Harris. fly. halfway through. Matthews was furious with herself, falling for a 13-ball 18, which she didn’t know would become the leading scorer of a dismal Barbadian innings.
Dottin calmed down
When Matthews’ opening partner, Deandra Dottin, clubbed Brown over extra cover for four, it was her first shot of fury after meeting a girl from Jess Jonassen in the third and she ended the power play with just six runs from 20 balls.
King went on offense in the eighth over and hit her second ball, along the outside of Dottin’s front pad, kneeling to push the ball to the fine leg, right in line with the middle stump and the lbw decision of Referee Sue Redfern was confirmed when Dottin judged the ball clearly hit the center stump a third of the way up. Dottin finished with just eight runs from 22 balls at a meager 36.36 batting rate.
King reigns
McGrath hit the second ball when she caught Kycia Knight, Barbados’ top scorer in the first game with an unbeaten 62, by Megan Schutt on deep back square. Kyshona Knight then chipped Gardner to Harris at midwicket while Barbados slipped into trouble 49 for 4 and ran into their inexperienced batters. Gardner was excellent at bowling in her spare time, sending 17 dot balls in her four overs and finishing 2 for 6 after removing 18-year-old Trishnan Holder for nothing to seal a double wicket girl.
McGrath finished 3 for 13 as she ate in the tail, but it was King who reigned on a slow throw who has now played six games in this tournament. King was responsible for Aaliyah Alleyne, took a wild swing across the line from one that ripped the leg stump out, then pinned Shamilia Connell to the back leg of the next ball. King should have had her third immediately, but 33-year-old international debutant Keila Elliott’s edge slipped straight out of Lanning’s hands. Lanning was normally so reliable in the field and then lay face down on the turf for a while while King held her hands to her head and a brave smile appeared on her face.
Lanning is doing well
Lanning almost made up for her blunder as she led Australia past the goal and released after a calm start. Healy was unusually quiet at first – she was dealt 14 balls for her first four runs after Australia lost to Beth Mooney, stunned by Kycia Knight of Shanika Bruce’s bowling in the second over of their answer.
But Lanning penalized some loose balls from Dottin in the sixth over, yielding 25 runs to end the power play with Australia needing just 23 more runs. Back-to-back sixes swung vigorously over the leg side – the second of a high full toss termed a no-ball – in Dottin’s first overset Australia well underway. A walk preceded an unconventional four when Lanning stepped back and stuck out her bat as she fell forward past her crease and managed to send the ball through third to the boundary.
Healy then started to find the rope with back-to-back fours from Matthews and Elliott in the next two overs before Lanning Shakera slammed Selman to the square leg boundary to deliver the winning runs and a resounding win.
Valkerie Baynes is general editor at ESPNcricinfo