When Anya Shrubsole danced down the pitch and hit Lisa Sthalekar over mid on in the 44th over of England’s pursuit of 148 this morning, I thought at that point they would make it. Holly Colvin had hit three fours in the previous over and that statement from Shrubsole told the world she was up for this fight. Another boundary followed and Australia just seemed, for a few moments, to look as if they were beaten. Never should such a thing be assumed. Not for the first time in the game, they fought back, Erin Osborne struck to have Colvin caught behind and for just the fifth time in ODI history, two runs was the winning margin.
Some compared it to Edgbaston 2005. After all, the winning margin was the same, England and Australia were involved, and as Clare Connor put it, some ‘not great’ umpiring decisions were involved. When Lydia Greenway, Colvin and Shrubsole were chipping away at the target, it put me more in mind of England’s 2009 World Cup final win over New Zealand.
Colvin hit the winning runs on that day and at the crease at the same time was Nicki Shaw, who had been a late replacement for Jenny Gunn. Today, however, the roles were reversed. This time Colvin missed out and as Holly Ferling replaced Ellyse Perry at the last moment, she ended up on the winning side. She played a huge role with a wonderful spell, taking three for 35.
The result keeps Australia on top of the Super Six standings and leaves England with a huge amount of work to do to reach the final, particularly after New Zealand and the West Indies also won their matches against Sri Lanka and South Africa.
The maximum points they can reach is six – which Australia already have. New Zealand and the West Indies are on four, so England’s destiny is no longer completely in their own hands. They have to beat New Zealand and the West Indies, and hope that South Africa or Sri Lanka (or even both) do them a favour.
To me, it’s looking more and more like we’re set for the third Australia-New Zealand final (one win each, so far). This weekend will go a long way to either confirming this or throwing the whole tournament wide open. Again.