NICK FRIEND: England fought back from losing to India in sweltering heat by producing a fine display to beat Australia at Manuka Oval in a thrilling Super Over
That it even went this far was a massive statement from Australia, who simply refused to be beaten. They were 114 for 7 and then 139 for 8. England, for long periods, were superb, but even then it seemed as though Australia's depth set them on a different plain.
And so, it came down to a Super Over – as if cricket has not tired of them in recent times. But Sophie Ecclestone held her nerve – she bowled a far better set here than she did in the final over of the game itself. And then Heather Knight, fittingly, finished proceedings with a pair of boundaries.
From a mental standpoint, you sense that this win could be huge for an England side under a new coaching team that is still fiddling around with batting orders and team selections in search of the right formula. If you're outplaying this Australian side – as they did for three quarters of this game, then you're onto something.
Australia did a job on these same players only a few months ago during the Ashes, and the manner of that series defeat will have left some scarring. Losing to India on Friday, therefore – for only the fourth time in T20Is, would not have eased any lingering fragility, even having enjoyed a whitewash victory over Pakistan in December.
But getting over the line today should be a reminder to this England side of their own ability, and also of Australia’s fallibility. No human is invincible, no team unbeatable. England have won the last two meetings between the sides now and, in the Manuka Oval, they have a ground at which they are eminently comfortable.
Momentum is an oft-overused consideration in elite sport, but having conspired to throw away what looked like a hard-fought win in the initial match, to come back so strongly in the Super Over will mean a lot.
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Annabel Sutherland (right) impressed on her international debut
It is no exaggeration to suggest that Ellyse Perry sees some of herself in Annabel Sutherland. Perry, of course, made her own international bow as a 16-year-old seamer, before transforming herself into the game’s premier allrounder.
“I didn’t think she’d be this good a bat,” former Australia wicketkeeper Julia Price reflected recently to The Cricketer of Perry's development. “And I think she even prefers batting to bowling now, having come in as a bowler in the first place.”
If Sutherland, daughter of former Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, goes onto have anything like the impact of Perry, she will have done quite nicely. The early signs are good.
“She's a wonderful athlete,” Perry said of Sutherland. “She's got a great build, she bowls fast and into the wicket and is able to swing it. She's a very, very classy batter, plays essentially around the whole ground already.
“To think that she's only had such a small amount of experience at this level, but she already looks capable and comfortable.
“Time is only going to make her better … I'm really pumped that she's getting the opportunity when she is, because I think she could be one of the best we’ve ever produced.”
Although expensive with the ball, most of those runs came behind square as England exploited her raw pace. And then, she salvaged the initial chase with the bat – a brutal, powerful display of stroke-play. A pretty remarkable effort from the debutante when Australia looked dead and buried.
An enterprising, exciting introduction from the next off Australia’s impressive production line.
Anya Shrubsole was replaced by Freya Davies for the second match of this tri-series. Shrubsole bowled just two overs on Friday during England’s last-over defeat by India.
The word from the camp is that she is suffering from a sore foot, though the problem is not thought to be too serious, with the T20 World Cup beginning in under three weeks’ time.
Meg Lanning sat out the Super Over with a sore back. She played down her absence as a precuationary measure.
For all of the obvious talent running through the veins of Amy Jones, the wicketkeeper-batsman’s record against Australia has become a well-documented blind spot in her game.
Across nine T20I innings against the world’s top side, Jones has made 93 runs at an average of just 10.33 – and at a strike rate of 75.60.
Coming into this clash, she had been dismissed cheaply by Ellyse Perry on three occasions; here, while she was ultimately run out, it was a wicket squeezed out by the allrounder’s quality with the new ball. Perry’s four overs cost just nine runs, with Jones making seven off 17 deliveries against her.
And that run out was the result of a muddled mind. With Jess Jonassen well inside the 30-yard circle and Jones hitting to her dominant left hand, she was always in trouble once she opted to take on the arm of the spinner.
Needless to say, Jones is a far better player than her record – and her 24-ball 10 today – against Meg Lanning’s outfit suggests. But it is a problem that England must solve. At present, Perry and Lanning know they have the wool over England’s opener.
Heather Knight played a fine hand for England, reaching her highest score in T20Is
In T20Is at least, Heather Knight has never played better than she has done in the last two days. Perhaps the biggest compliment that could be paid towards the England skipper here was that she played as she played in last year’s Kia Super League final.
Then, she made an unbeaten 78 – a knock that set her apart from everyone else on display that afternoon in Hove. Here, she played with the same fearlessness that was on view then.
Coming to the crease with England 32 for 2 in the eighth over, Knight led a remarkable recovery; she struck three sixes – each bigger than the last – in partnership with Fran Wilson.
When you watch Knight bat like this, it seems absurd that as recently as 48 hours ago, she had made just a single T20I half century with a high score of just 51. Now, she has three – and each of them have taken place at the Manuka Oval, Canberra.
If Friday’s knock against India on a slow, sluggish surface was centred around a dominance square of the wicket – an innings full of sweeps and reverse-sweeps, Knight here showed her ability to assess a different surface, as well as her range of shots. She hit cleanly through the ball, dispelling any doubts England had encountered in a first half of an innings that Knight later described as "timid", chipping over extra cover, driving powerfully down the ground and slog-sweeping over midwicket.
A word, too, for Fran Wilson. Sometimes viewed as a one-dimensional player, overly reliant on her lap-sweeps and deflections, she played a hand so fine that neither Tammy Beaumont nor Lauren Winfield were required. That conundrum, of course, is a discussion for another day.
Overs 1-10: 41 for 3
Overs 11-20: 115 for 1
Some effort, that.
The quality of the hitting was such that Australia, by such a vast margin the finest team in the world, were made to look ragged. Megan Schutt missed a straightforward chance to remove Knight on the cover boundary, before her final over was plundered for 20 runs. There were poor plans with the ball and some curious fields set; it is not often that a side tucks into Australia like Knight and Wilson did.
While Perry’s four overs cost just nine runs, England took Schutt and Delissa Kimmince for 80 runs from their eight overs in the latter stages. They turned a difficult start into a match-winning total.
How good is Sarah Glenn, by the way? Hardly a bad ball bowled in her four overs. Not a drag down in sight – some performance from a 20-year-old making her way in the international arena.
She is a modern wrist-spinner in a white-ball sense – she doesn’t look to turn the ball a great deal, instead bowling with greater over-spin and looking for drop and bounce to cause problems. Perry, Rachael Haynes and Ashleigh Gardner were all beaten in the flight.
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