England women, who are fighting for the Twenty20 World Cup in the West Indies, have lost their first group game on count back following a Super Over tie with Australia.
Scores were level before both teams reached six for two after the Super Over. As Australia had hit the only six of the match they were awarded the win on count back.
Charlotte Edwards and Sarah Taylor led England to start the defence of their Twenty20 title. The Australian field was well set from the off by Alex Blackwell, making the task of accumulating runs difficult for England.
Sarah Taylor top scored for England with 46 before being caught by Lisa Sthalekar after skying a ball in what may have been a costly momentary lack of concentration. Beth Morgan and Lydia Greenway only managed to add on 17 and 14 respectively, with the rest of the middle order failing to contribute. England were all out for 104 in 17.3 overs.
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England took to the field with the challenge of taking early wickets to get themselves back in the game. Strike bowler Katherine Brunt removed Elyse Villani in the second over. Brunt then followed by bowling out Nitschke, and Edwards took a catch at short fine leg to dismiss Alex Blackwell, to leave Australia on three for 44.
England once again displayed their world class fielding to get themselves back in the game. Beth Morgan (pictured in pre match training) took a total of three catches and one direct hit for a run - out to draw the game and force a Super Over.
In the Super Over, Laura Marsh bowled for England and once again exceptional fielding was displayed with Gunn scooping a ball mid-air to prevent a six. Taylor and Morgan were the nominated batters for England who faced Nitschke. Both teams scored six for two to tie the Super Over and the game was won by Australia on count back as they scored the only six of the game.
After the game, Charlotte Edwards said: “We clearly needed to score more runs, but our bowling was outstanding and we fought right to the end. I’m gutted that we lost the game.”
Head Coach, Mark Lane said: “Clearly we have areas to work on, we will work hard in practice tomorrow ready for the West Indies on Friday.
“We’ve had a few trial runs at the Super Over, so we were quite clear on how it was going to work, but unfortunately we were run out. We are disappointed, but we didn’t loose the game on the Super Over, we lost it with the bat in the first innings.”
England play their next group game against the West Indies on Friday, May 7 at Warner Park, Basseterre, St Kitts.
Gemma Owen, Sportsister
The Women’s Sport Magazine
Image credit: Tom Shaw/Getty Images
