The Times - UK (2022-04-04)

54 2GM Monday April 4 2022 | the times

SportWomen's World Cup final

5

The ECB is in advanced negotiations
for a bumper broadcast deal that means
the bulk of international and domestic
cricket will remain on Sky Sports until
at least 2034.
Tom Harrison, the chief executive, is
expected to leave the governing body
within the next few months and is
understood to be keen to seal a ten-year
deal with Sky Sports, which will begin
when the present deal runs out in 2024.
The deal is designed to protect the
broadcasting future of the Hundred,
something Harrison believes is part of
his legacy, and give some long-term
financial security to the ECB.

Scoreboard

AUSTRALIA R B

@A J Healy

st Jones b Shrubsole

Goes after the ball outside off

170138

R L Haynes

c Beaumont b Ecclestone

Sliced up to backward point

6893

B L Mooney

c Sciver b Shrubsole

Pitched short, down leg side

6247

A Gardner (Cross/Shrubsole)

run out

Hit to long on, accurate throw

1 2

*M M Lanning

c Beaumont b Shrubsole

Leading edge, to short third man

10 5

T M McGrath not out 8 5

E A Perry not out 17 10

Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 14) 20

TOTAL (5 wkts, 50 overs) 356

J L Jonassen, A King, M L Schutt and

D Brown did not bat.

Fall of wickets 1-160, 2-316, 3-318, 4-331,

5-331.

Bowling Brunt 10-0-69-0; Shrubsole

10-0-46-3; Sciver 8-0-65-0; Dean 4-0-34-0;

Ecclestone 10-0-71-1; Cross 8-0-65-0.

ENGLAND R B

T T Beaumont

lbw b Schutt

Length ball, pinged front pad

27 26

D N Wyatt

b Schutt

Perfect inswinger, sneaked past

4 5

*H C Knight

lbw b King

Tossed up, pinned right in front

2625

N R Sciver not out 148121

@A E Jones

c King b Jonassen

A full swing toward mid-off

20 18

S I R Dunkley

b King

Bowled around the legs

22 22

K H Brunt

st Healy b King

Looped outside off, turned away

1 4

S Ecclestone

lbw b McGrath

Trapped in front, full on middle

3 10

K L Cross

c and b Jonassen

Pushed in front, diving catch

2 3

C E Dean

c Jonassen b Gardner

Reverse-sweep at short third

21 24

A Shrubsole

c Gardner b Jonassen

Holed out toward mid-off

1 4

Extras (lb 4, w 6) 10

TOTAL (43.4 overs) 285

Fall of wickets 1-12, 2-38, 3-86, 4-129,

5-179, 6-191, 7-206, 8-213, 9-278.

Bowling Schutt 8-0-42-2; Brown 7-0-57-0;

King 10-0-64-3; McGrath 8-0-46-1;

Jonassen 8.4-0-57-3; Gardner 2-0-15-1.

Umpires K Cotton and L Agenbag.

This was always going to be a monu-
mental challenge for England. The
strength of this Australia women’s team
is immense and to overcome them in
the final, every one of Heather Knight’s
charges was going to have to perform at
their absolute best.
Despite a spirited unbeaten century
from Nat Sciver, England were over-
come by the might of Australia’s batting
power as Meg Lanning’s team won the
World Cup in Christchurch by 71 runs.
Alyssa Healy smashed the highest
score in World Cup final history — a
remarkable 170 from 138 balls that
powered Australia to a mammoth 356
for five.
It proved beyond the reach of
Knight’s side who had been looking to
become the first England team to retain
the World Cup but had no answer to
Healy’s powerful assault with the bat as
she and Rachael Haynes piled on an
opening partnership of 160.
Having won the toss and put Austra-
lia in to bat with the hope that the fresh
pitch would assist seam, England were
guilty of some of the errors that had
cost them in the early stage of the tour-
nament — wasting the new ball with
too many poor deliveries that could be
easily dispatched by powerful openers.
Both were given a lifeline in the same
over when Sciver and Danni Wyatt put
down catches and Healy was dropped
again on 136 by Tammy Beaumont at
short fine leg. Although the chances
were difficult they were not impossible,
and against Australia, England needed
to be at their absolute best in the field
but they weren’t.
Healy continued to dominate the
seamers and spinners, using her feet
well to attack Charlie Dean and Sophie
Ecclestone, England’s spin duo. In all,
she hit 26 fours, beating Adam Gil-
christ’s 2007 World Cup final innings of
149 and in the process she surpassed
Debbie Hockley’s previous record for
the most runs scored in a Women’s
World Cup.
Healy was finally stumped by Amy
Jones off Anya Shrubsole, who finished
with three wickets, but by then the
damage had been done, with Australia
316 for two. Beth Mooney played her
own impressive hand, hitting 62 from
47 balls in contribution to Australia’s
score and the star all-rounder Elysse
Perry, back in the side after injury,
played a nice cameo batting at No 7 to
finish off the innings.

With such an imposing target the

pressure on England was clear. The

chase began badly with the early wicket

of Wyatt, who had hit a century in the

semi-final, and then Beaumont four

overs later leaving the champions 38 for

two in the seventh over. Knight had

looked in better form for her 26, adding

48 for the third wicket before falling to

the spinner Alana King.

Sciver was at her dangerous best,

however, and determined to try to keep

up with the rate despite the falling wick-

ets, sharing decent partnerships with

Jones and Sophia Dunkley. But they

both fell to the spin of Jess Jonassen,

and with the dismissal of Katherine

Brunt, England had lost three wickets

in nine overs and could not provide the

support that Sciver needed. Ecclestone

faced only ten balls before falling victim

to Tahlia McGrath, and Kate Cross

became Jonassen’s third victim with a

sharp return catch.

Dean did her best to provide

assistance to Sciver as the Surrey all-

rounder hit her second century of the

tournament. There was still hope for

England fans as they put together a

partnership of 65 for the ninth wicket

but when Dean was out reverse-

sweeping to third man, the writing was

on the wall. Seven balls later Australia

were champions when Shrubsole

chipped tamely to mid-off leaving

Sciver unbeaten on 148.

Knight acknowledged that her team

had come up against one of the greatest

ODI innings of all time by Healy,

“We can take a lot of pride in what

we’ve done as a group. The way we

fought throughout the competition to

be in this position and we fought

tonight.

“Healy’s innings was outstanding,

one of the best I’ve seen live,” Knight

said and admitted that her bowlers had

found it “hard to shut her down”.

Although disappointing for England,

it was always going to be a big ask to

take on this rampant Australian team.

In the five years since Australia lost in

the 2017 World Cup semi-final, they

have played 21 series across all formats

and not been beaten and have also

retained the Ashes three times and won

two T20 World Cups. They are, simply,

the best in the world by some distance.

Moments of the World Cup

West Indies reach semi-finals

There was a wonderful video of the

team celebrating exuberantly in

their hotel having seen India fail to

overcome South Africa and deny

them a semi-final berth.

Pakistan’s win over West Indies

Pakistan had lost 18 World Cup

matches in a row but spinner Nida

Dar took four for ten to end that run.

Alyssa Healy’s 170 in the final

This was one of the best ODI knocks

in the history of the women’s game.

Her ability against both spin and

seam and the array of shots both

conventional and innovative made it

a joy to watch.

New Zealand’s Maddy Green catch

Green removed Australia’s Ellyse

Perry with a flying one-handed

effort to her left at long on.

Words by Elizabeth Ammon

Hagley Oval (England won toss):

Australia beat England by 71 runs

England on wrong side of history

Elizabeth

Ammon

Australia v England

PHIL WALTER/ICC; HANNAH PETERS/GETTY IMAGES

Healy enjoys

Australia’s win after

her 170 while, inset,

Katherine Brunt

and Wyatt, right,

console each other

T

here is no shame in finishing

runners-up to this Australian

team. It has been a long, hard

winter for England. They have been

on the road since the start of January

battling with Covid bubbles and a

hard, bruising Ashes series. And this

Australia team are as much of a world

force as the men’s Australia team were

in the 1990s and early 2000s.

For England to turn around their

fortunes after such a terrible start to

the tournament showed a side with

Broader talent pool needed to beat Australia

Elizabeth Ammon

Comment

fight and spirit, though there remain

questions about their overall fitness.

Nonetheless, making the final was

expected of them. They are the

second-best resourced team in the

world. Their centrally contracted

players earn a good salary and this

tournament showed the emergence of

some new talent. In Sophie Ecclestone,

England have a world-class bowler.

Sophia Dunkley has shown some grit

and skill and will, in time, move up

the order, and Charlie Dean, too, gave

a very good account of herself.

Reaching the final, and avoiding

what looked like being a group-stage

exit, saved the ECB from having to

overhaul the women’s team when it is

embroiled in a crisis over the men’s

Test team. There will be no sackings

or resignations — just further

opportunities for younger players.

The start of a new World Cup and

Ashes four-year cycle is a time to take

stock and look at how they can begin

to close the gap with Australia. As

always, it boils down to money and

using that to increase participation

and therefore, a broader talent pool.

The ECB is playing catch-up and has

been for years. If England are to

compete with Australia, it will only

come from women’s cricket here

being seen as an attractive prospect

for girls, who are still more likely to

be drawn to other sports.

Ten-year Sky cricket deal

Elizabeth Ammon The present deal, worth about
£220 million a year, is the ECB’s largest
source of revenue. It is not expected
that the negotiations will lead to any
significant increase to that amount.
As with the present deal, Sky will
share rights to some matches with the
BBC, which has the rights to broadcast
live four international T20 matches
(two men’s and two women’s) and ten
matches across the men’s and women’s
Hundred, including the finals. It is
expected that will stay broadly the same.
The one stumbling block is that
Harrison cannot finalise a new deal
until all the counties have agreed to
give the ECB and Sky media rights to
their grounds.