The win continues Australia’s dominance in the women’s game and an incredibly tight game saw them beat India by nine runs, bowling them out for 152 with three deliveries left in their innings after they threatened to pull off a memorable run chase.
ICC Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said: “Congratulations to Australia on winning the first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal for women’s cricket. It has been a fantastic ten days of competition at Edgbaston with packed out crowds getting behind the world’s best players. Every game has felt like a home game with fans of all eight competing nations turning out in force to watch top quality cricket and some hard-fought games, including the final was a superb advert for the women’s game.
“I’d like to thank the Commonwealth Games Federation and Birmingham 2022 for giving cricket the opportunity to be part of a multi-sport Games, the players and match officials have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”
What happened in the match?
As for the match is concerned, Australia skipper opted to bat first after winning the toss. Despite losing Alyssa Healy early in the innings, Beth Mooney’s half-century and a quickfire 25 and 18 from Ash Gardner and Rachel Haynes propelled them to 161 runs in their 20 overs. In reply, India lost their openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana early and the game seemed far away from them.
But skipper Harmanpreet Kaur (65) and Jemimah Rodrigues (33) stitched a brilliant 96-run stand to take India only 44 runs adrift of the historic Gold. But the latter’s wicket triggered a collapse and India lost all their remaining wickets without much to the total. India were bundled out for just 152 runs in the final over.