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After the Australian men’s team, the Australian women’s cricket team too started their Ashes series with a bang. They registered a convincing win in the opening match of the multi-format Ashes series by nine wickets. In Adelaide, they have chased down 170 in 17 overs as well on the back of Tahlia McGrath.
After having won the toss, they elected to field first. England openers – Tammy Beaumont and Danielle Wyatt gave England a flying start. They put up 82 runs in the first ten overs. While they were trying to take the game away from the hosts, debutant Alana King provided with the first breakthrough. She dismissed Beaumont by taking an easy return catch.
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Later, all-rounder Natalie Sciver and Wyatt added another 59 runs off 38 to help the team progress further and keep Australia under the pressure. However, Australia all-rounder Tahlia McGrath had other plans as she dismissed both the batters in the same over. With this, the pace has become slow and England put up 169 runs in their allotted 20 overs. Wyatt top-scored with 70 off 54 while Sophia Dunkley smashed 10 off 5. McGrath picked up 3 wickets for 26 as well.
While chasing, Alyssa Healy got out very cheaply in the fourth over with 26 on the board. However, her dismissal worked for the hosts as Australia didn’t lose any more wickets. Tahlia McGrath came to bat at No.3 and started to steady the ship with Lanning. They were 58 for 1 in eight overs when both of them scored three boundaries from the ninth over.
However, they managed 15 runs from Sarah Glenn’s over. Meanwhile, McGrath smashed a six against Freya Davies in the next over to score 12 more runs. With this, they successfully put pressure on England players. The visitors failed to restrict them as Tahlia McGrath scored her maiden T20I fifty. While she finished with her career-best 91 off 43, Lanning too scored a fifty (64 off 44).
Both of them stitched a 144 runs partnership that came off 79 balls. While they added their century stand in the 14th over, they sealed the deal within 17 overs, three more overs to spare. The second T20I between Australia and England will take place on January 22, Saturday.
After the win, Tahlia McGrath, who won the Player of the Match award, said: “It was a lot of fun, my home ground and I was looking forward to this game, so to help us win, I am super happy. Our preparations were a bit lean, staying in the bio-bubbles and on, so playing more games will help us. Danni Wyatt batted beautifully, so the plan was to bowl at the stumps and restrict her. While batting, we wanted to exploit both sides of the ground, batting under lights is easier over here and it came off.”
Brief scores: England 169/4 in 20 overs (Danielle Wyatt 70; Tahlia McGrath 3-26) lost to Australia 170/1 in 17 overs (Tahlia McGrath 91, Meg Lanning 64) by nine wickets.
