Key events
10th over: Australia 65-2 (Harris 27, McGrath 24) Deepti Sharma summoned by Harmanpreet and her first over is good one, nagging line on the stumps and only five runs off the over. We’re halfway through the Aussie innings and it’s time for a drink. Milk, no sugar. Ta.
9th over: Australia 60-2 (Harris 25, McGrath 21) Drop! Deepti Sharma shells a low chance from Harris at backward point, the momentum beginning to change in this game. McGrath dances down and lofts Arundhati over mid off for four as the Aussie partnership grows.
8th over: Australia 52-2 (Harris 24, McGrath 14) Vastrakar returns and very nearly cleans up McGrath with one that nips back late. India decide against the review, it looked a little high, the replays show it was umpires call and the decision on field was not out. Prettay prettay close though. Shot! McGrath charges the next ball and drives on the up through point for four. Vastrakar responds with a bouncer that McGrath ducks. A single to cover brings Harris on strike for the final ball of the over. Nicely played! A pre-meditated dab from Harris is well executed and runs away fine for the second boundary of the over. Ten runs off it.
7th over: Australia 42-2 (Harris 19, McGrath 9) Arundhati Reddy given the nod and sends down another tight over, just five singles off it as Australia can’t break the shackles.
The Aussies have patted back 22 dots so far, that gives a decent indication of how well the Indian bowlers have bowled and fielded so far.
6th over: Australia 37-2 (Harris 16, McGrath 7) Shreyanka Patil to bowl the final over of the powerplay. Bosh! Harris greets her with a heave over midwicket that bounces once before hitting the boundary hoardings. Patil responds well though, darting the ball in at the stumps and not giving Harris the chance to get under it. Two leg byes and single the only further damage. Cat and mouse stuff.
5th over: Australia 30-2 (Harris 11, McGrath 7) Grace Harris lines up a smear into the leg side but misses it and the ball nearly cleans up her leg stump. Ghosh missed it too and the batters scrabble a single. Renuka Singh is looking for the lbw again but strays a bit too straight an is worked away into the leg side by both batters. Six runs off the over.
4th over: Australia 24-2 (Harris 10, McGrath 5) Pooja Vastrakar into the attack for India. Medium pace and shaping way from the right hander. McGrath punches through cover for a single to get off the mark and then finishers the over with clip of the pads fine for four. Australia have Ellyse Perry to come in next, they are in the middle of a re-build job here, India are buzzing about after the early breakthroughs, could this be their night…?
3rd over: Australia 18-2 (Harris 9, McGrath 0) Stand in captain Tahlia McGrath arrives at the crease with her team in srtrife. Can she survive the hat-trick ball from Renuka… just! The ball was arrowed in at the pads once more but was a bit too leg side, McGrath scampering a leg bye to get down the other end and keep strike for the next over. Two wickets for Renuka and India putting the Aussies under the pump in Sharjah.
WICKET! Wareham lbw b Renuka Singh 0 (Australia 17-2)
Stone. Dead. Wareham is pinned lbw first ball and Renuka Singh is on a hat-trick!
WICKET! Mooney c Yadav b Renuka Singh 2 (Australia 17-1)
Mooney cuts away uppishly and is well caught by the last minute replacement Radha Yadav, diving forward to scoop the ball up just before it hit the turf. Fine grab and India have their first!
Gah! Renuka slides one down the leg side and leaves Ghosh with no chance behind the stumps as the ball races away for five wides… but hang on a minute…
There’s been a late swap to the India XI: Radha Yadav has come in for Asha Sobhana. I only just saw this. Finger meet pulse.
2nd over: Australia 9-0 (Harris 7, Mooney 1) Shreyanka Patil from the other end with her wily off-breaks. She starts well, pinning Mooney on the pads with an arm-ball and getting plenty of drift and spin when she flights it. Just a single to each batter, the floodlights beat down in Sharjah and it looks very clammy out there.
1st over: Australia 7-0 (Harris 6, Mooney 0) India’s wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh is up to the stumps and there’s a slip in place too. Renuka is on the money first ball but strays short and wide with her second, Harris does not miss out, rocking back and spanking through point for four! A drop? Renuka spears one down the leg side and I think Harris got a tickle on it, Ghosh spills it and the umpire tellingly does not give a wide. They stick or they don’t… and that one didn’t. Harris clips for a couple off her pads to make it seven runs off the first.
Right then, the players are heading out for the anthems, Grace Harris and Beth Mooney are opening up for the Aussies. Renuka Singh is going to open the bowling for India. The actual fireworks go off and maybe we’re about to see some more metaphorical ones. Play!
Not looking good for Alyssa Healy and Tayla Vlaeminck’s tournament is over. You know it, I know it – sport is a cruel so and so sometimes.
Here’s one England prepared earlier:
Heather Knight’s side booked their place in the semi-finals with a ten wicket victory over Scotland and – whisper it – are seemingly peeking at the right time for a tilt at the trophy.
Teams:
Grace Harris and Darcie Brown are back in the side for Australia. Pooja Vastrakar is back in the XI for India. It’s a still sweltering 34 degrees in Sharjah with the temperature set to drop as evening sets in. Perhaps dew will play a part later on in proceedings…
India: 1 Shafali Verma, 2 Smriti Mandhana, 3 Harmanpreet Kaur (C), 4 Jemimah Rodriguez, 5 Richa Ghosh (wk), 6 Deepti Sharma, 7 Pooja Vastrakar, 8 Arundhati Reddy, 9 Shreyanka Patil, 10 Asha Sobhana, 11 Renuka Singh
Australia: 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Grace Harris , 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Ashleigh Gardner, 5 Phoebe Litchfield, 6 Tahlia McGrath (C), 7 Georgia Wareham, 8 Annabel Sutherland, 9 Sophie Molineux, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Darcie Brown
Australia win the toss and will bat first
The news is confirmed that Alyssa Healy is out of action for Australia, she’s even sporting crutches so it doesn’t look good for the rest of the tournament. Thalia McGrath takes the captaincy reins with the incredibly experienced Ellyse Perry as her deputy, her first act is a succesful one, she wins the toss and decides to have a bat.
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the OBO of Australia v India from Sharjah. There’s a place in the T20 World Cup semi-final at stake and Harmanpreet Kaur’s side have it all to do. In order to progress they’ll need to jam a stick in the spokes of one of the greatest sides to grace world cricket, and that is not hyperbole.
An India win of 61 runs or more will see them leapfrog the Aussies and qualify automatically for the final four but that would be some turn up for the books as India have only won eight of the 34 T20 matches they’ve played against the Aussies. However, the world champions do have a few injury concerns that leave them a smidge more vulnerable.
Pace bowler Tayla Vlaeminck has a dislocated right shoulder, suffered after only four balls in their eventual win against Pakistan and captain Alyssa Healy was forced to hobble off the field towards the end of the match with an “acute” injury to her right foot.
Healy’s prognosis for the rest of the tournament should become clear soon after she was sent for scans yesterday. Vlaeminck’s injury is a particularly cruel blow as the fast bowler has been plagued with injury and was playing only her second World Cup match and first since 2018. her teammates were visibly upset when she went down and it became clear she could not continue.
The Aussies have remarkable strength in depth but won’t take India lightly, they have yet another world trophy in their sights. If India win by less than 61 runs then they’ll be looking nervously to New Zealand’s match against Pakistan and a host of net run rate outcomes that, to be perfectly honest, make my brain rattle. We’ll cross that numerical bridge when and if we come to it.
Play gets underway at 6pm local time, 1am AEDT time and 3pm where I am in dear old blighty. I’ll be back with news of the teams and the toss when they filter through. Please do drop me a line with any thoughts and theories, the (ludicrously?) capacious OBO mailbag is open.