Key events
10th over: Australia 61-0 (Healy 30, Litchfield 22) Litchfield bunts Devine back over her head for another four with a flourish. Devine hits back with a nasty short ball that thuds into the batter’s shoulder. Gnarly pro taking on precocious colt here. Youngster winning the battle at the moment, eleven off the over.
9th over: Australia 50-0 (Healy 25, Litchfield 13) Penfold switches ends and replaces Mair. The Aussie openers are looking to get after everything now, Healy clips for three and then throws the kitchen sink, fridge, island, kettle and toaster at a length ball later in the over but fails to connect. She throws her head back afterwards, which was the problem when executing the shot in the first place.
8th over: Australia 45-0 (Healy 25, Litchfield 13) Now then! After being pinned down Phoebe Litchfield decides enough is enough, she lofts a drive off Devine over extra cover for four and follows up next ball with a wonderfully smooth drive back over the bowler for a one bounce four. Dangerous signs here for New Zealand, 11 off the over.
7th over: Australia 34-0 (Healy 24, Litchfield 3) Healy picks up another boundary and Litchfield shows her first sign of real intent by wandering down the wicket to play a powerful drive, it goes straight to the fielder and she remains tied down in comparison to her partner.
6th over: Australia 27-0 (Healy 18, Litchfield 2) Sophie Devine fancies a piece of the action and brings herself on for the slightly wayward penfold. She fizzes a short ball past the advancing Healy to keep her opposite number honest and starts with an accurate over, stump to stump as Chris de Burgh didn’t quite sing.
5th over: Australia 23-0 (Healy 15, Litchfield 2) Mair tightens things up, just a Healy single off the over. You’re still thinking about those dropped catches aren’t you?
4th over: Australia 23-0 (Healy 15, Litchfield 2) Healy sits back and pulls Penfold to the square leg fence with ease. The Kiwi seamer is struggling slightly with adjusting her line to the left/right hand Australian opening partnership. Drop! Another chance goes begging, this time Healy gets a huge glove down the leg side and Isabella Gaze can’t cling on to it with the gloves. New Zealand can’t afford to give this gilded batting card lives. That’s one each now to Healy and Litchfield.
3rd over: Australia 15-0 (Healy 10, Litchfield 2) Drop! Mair gets the edge of Litchfield’s driving blade but Bella James can’t cling on to the catch diving away to her left at slip. She kicks the turf and shakes her head for the rest of the over. It was a tough chance but she feels like she should have grabbed it. The batters took a quick single and Healy rubs salt in the wound by crunching a drive through cover for four.
2nd over: Australia 9-0 (Healy 6, Litchfield 1) Litchfield clips off her toes to get off the mark. Penfold is trying to find some movement and she’s pitching very full but a bit too wide. The next ball is given wide too and then the over correction is too short, Healy pounces and swivels a pull for four. Penfold finds her length with the final three balls of the over but the forward defensive strokes all come ominously out of the middle of the bat.
1st over: Australia 2-0 (Healy 2, Litchfield 0) It’s a sprightly start from Rosemary Mair who beats Healy with a beauty that angles in and seams away late. Close! A leading edge from Healy somehow finds the gap between point and backward and the batters scamper a couple of runs. That could have easily gone to hand and they are the only runs off the over.
Molly Penfold will share the new Kookaburra, she’s fresh off career best figures of 4-42 after scything through the Aussie top order a couple of days ago.
Here we go, bright sunshine at the Basin Reserve. Rosemary Mair is going to start with a slip in place to Alyssa Healy. Play!
Amelia Kerr speaks about being aggressive and not taking a backward step as that approach just does not work against this Australian juggernaut. The pitch does look a belter and Australia have a stacked batting card, the White Ferns will need early wickets that’s for sure.
Tahlia McGrath, who stood in as Captain in Alyssa Healy’s absence, speaks to the host broadcaster about Australia being ‘ruthless’ and how Annabel Sutherland is playing on a different plane right now. There’s talk of getting this game in the bag and then a 3am alarm tomorrow for the Aussies to get the flight home to spend Christmas with family. They are such a well drilled and indeed ‘ruthless’ outfit already that they won’t have given much thought to eggnog, presents and Christmas lunch just yet. The same can’t be said for myself.
Some nice pre-match reading right here:
New Zealand name an unchanged XI too:
Australia win the toss and will bat first
Alyssa Healy calls the coin correctly and chooses to bat first on a decent looking Wellington wicket. It’s an unchanged XI for the Aussies, we will have news on the White Ferns team ASAP.
I have it on good authority that the weather is clear and bright in Wellington! Toss incoming…
Preamble
James Wallace
Hello and welcome to the third women’s ODI between New Zealand and Australia from Wellington. Jolly Old St Nick might be dousing his abundant whiskers with beard oil and lint rolling his ermine in preparation for another festive jaunt but we’ve still just got time to sneak a game of cricket in before the big man saddles the reindeer and programs the SleighNav.
Australia are looking to finish the year on a high, a victory today will see Alyssa Healy’s side take the series against the White Ferns in their own backyard and will keep the Aussies ticking over nicely before the small matter of *The Ashes* gets underway in January.
As for the home side, after a washout and a rain affected loss in the previous two matches, Sophie Devine and co will be hoping for fair skies and a decent crack at drawing the series one game apiece.
Jim here with the call in foggy old Blighty. I’ll be back for news of the teams and toss shortly, play is due to get underway at 11am local time/9 am AEDT.
Pass me some figgy pudding a shiny white Kookaburra.
