Aussies become double World Champions

Australia have added the ODI World Champions' crown to the World T20 title that they already hold, with an emphatic victory over West Indies in the final in Mumbai.

In truth the result never really looked in doubt after the Aussies had won the toss and batted comfortably through their 50 overs to put 259/7 on the board, thanks to a hard-fought 52 from Rachael Haynes, a bruising 75 from 76 balls from Jess Cameron and a 50 run unbeaten partnership in 40 balls from Jodie Fields (36no) and Ellyse Perry (25no).

The Windies started cautiously, but when Perry was introduced in the 10th over the drama started to unfold. Perry failed to let the ball go at her first two attempts at bowling, hobbling on her obviously painful left ankle. At her third attempt the ball found its way down to the other end, but with no great power. She continued to hobble her way through the over and off the last ball she had Kycia Knight lbw for the first West Indies wicket. Stafanie Taylor walked to the wicket to replace Knight, with the weight of expectation on her shoulders, but with little real experience against teams of this class. Second ball she faced off Perry she edged low down to Meg Lanning at first slip, who seemed to take a good low catch, but once the umpires decided to review the decision it was always in doubt. And so it proved. The third umpire gave her not out, much to Lanning's disgust. It could have been a pivotal moment, but two balls later Perry made sure it was not. She caught and bowled Taylor off a leading edge as she tried to turn a straight ball to square leg. The delight on the Aussie faces said it all. This game was theirs to lose. Perry then claimed Natasha McLean lbw to have figures of 3/8.

Deandra Dottin was West Indies final hope, but realistically she was never going to be able to power Windies past the Australian's total. She flattered to deceive with a couple of smashed 6s, but a horrible slog to Sthalekar left her stumps in a mess and the Windies were out of the game at 109/5. They stumbled their way to 145 before they lost their final wicket to a glorious diving catch from Lisa Sthalekar, and the Aussies rightly celebrated a well-deserved victory by 114 runs.

The West Indies will be disappointed that they did not put up a better fight, but in truth their final had been played a few days before, when they beat the Aussies to reach the final at the expense of England. The mere fact that they made the final should mean that they will now get to play more of the top sides, more often, which can only help them improve more.

As for the Aussies they are here in England in August for one test and an ODI and T20 series. It should be a great contest and one can only hope that the broadcasters have seen enough here to cover more than just the couple of T20s being played before the men's games at the Ageas Bowl and Chester-le-Street. There is a genuine thirst for women's cricket, which needs to be slated.

MD
17/II/13
scorecard - http://www.espncricinfo.com/icc-womens-world-cup-2013/engine/current/match/594915.html