Women's Ashes, 2017: 1st ODI Review: Alex Blackwell’s unbeaten 67 inspires Australia to victory

High-scoring games, comprising of a flurry of boundaries, generate excitement amongst the audience. On the other hand, low-scoring contests also have their own flavour and can enthrall the viewers, equally, for the entire length of the game.

The first One Day International of the ICC Women’s championship between Australia Women and England Women in Brisbane wasn’t a high scoring one by any stretch of the imagination. However, the contest turned out to be an absolute thriller as both teams fought tooth and nail to get the better of each other.

Nevertheless, it was the Australian team which held their nerves as they beat England by two wickets. After Rachel Haynes won the toss and elected to field first, England got off a decent start. Laura Winfield, Tammy Beaumont and Sarah Taylor looked ominous to take the game away from Australia.

However, wickets at regular intervals pushed them back and they could only manage 228 runs in their allotted 50 overs. Right-arm off-spinner, Ashleigh Gardner was the pick of the Aussie bowlers with figures of 9-0-47-3. She picked up Sarah Taylor, Natalie Sciver and Fran Wilson in his spell, and also put the brakes on the scoring.

A jaw-dropping second half

During their chase, Australia floundered at various stages as they crawled to 87/4 in the first 19 overs. It was a stand of 63 from 95 balls between skipper Haynes and Alex Blackwell that injected momentum into the Aussie innings.

Blackwell is vastly experienced in the international circuit and she brought all her experience into play. Australian batswomen kept capitulating one after the other, but Blackwell didn’t let the situation unnerve her and carried on in her own merry way.

She remained not-out with a score of 67 from 86 balls and shepherded Australia to the victory. A quick-fire cameo from Ashleigh Gardener turned out to be the appropriate foil for Blackwell. With an innings of 27 from 18 balls, she didn’t allow the required run-rate rate to leapfrog.

The England bowlers tried their hearts out till the very end, but Blackwell’s calm-headed knock and Gardner’s onslaught turned out to be too hot to handle for Heather Knight’s women. Quite rightfully, Blackwell was awarded the Player of the Match award.

– Written by Sabyasachi Chowdhury