The Hindu : Sport : Australia wins a thriller to enter the final

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Sunday, Mar 04, 2007
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Australia wins a thriller to enter the final

Nandita Sridhar

Poor fielding at the death lets India down

— Photo: K. Pichumani

Melissa Bulow.

Chennai: Missing a run-out chance by a whisker is understandable. Missing it by inches is pardonable.

On Saturday, the Indians set a new benchmark for poor throwing with what can be moderately described as unpardonable misses, in the 49th over.

With Australia needing more than a run-a-ball to win, those minutes of absurdity blew India's chances to enter the final of the ICC women's quadrangular cricket series. What made it worse was that the fielders had both time and distance to exploit.

Australia held its nerve despite the mayhem around, beating India by four wickets at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. The team will face New Zealand in the final on Monday.

Earlier, captain Mithali Raj's freakish luck with the coin continued, and she elected to bat. The Indian total was inflated in the middle and the latter part of the innings by Hemlata Kala and Anjum Chopra, after opener Karuna Jain held on for a stubborn 75 off 119 balls. Hemlata's squeaky-clean hits off Lisa Sthalekar were largely responsible for the total reaching 230. Her footwork was impeccable against the spinners, and the 41-ball 54 was studded with six fours and one telling blow off Sthalekar that cleared the ropes.

Bulow bats well

The Australian response began well, with Melissa Bulow's fluent 85 putting them on course for an easy win. A flurry of wickets in the middle, thanks to some fine bowling by Nooshin Al Khadeer and brilliant catching made it 184 for six with the Aussies needing 47 off 43 balls.

Cathryn Fitzpatrick and Jodie Purves's partnership had both gutsy hitting and suicidal running. The inaccurate Indian throwing meant that they were home with no further casualties.

In the inconsequential match at IIT-Chemplast, New Zealand beat England by 27 runs.

The scores: At M.A. Chidambaram Stadium:

India: K. Jain lbw b Sthalekar 75, J. Sharma c Poulton b Pike 14, M. Raj c Purves b Sampson 9, A. Chopra b Sampson 41, R. Dhar b Fitzpatrick 0, H. Kala c Poulton b Sthalekar 54, A. Sharma c Bulow b Sthalekar 5, J. Goswami (run out) 2, S. Paranjpe (not out) 6, N. Al Khadeer c Bulow b Andrews 16, Extras (lb-2, w-6) 8, Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs) 230.

Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-49, 3-117, 4-118, 5-162, 6-182, 7-192, 8-210, 9-229.

Australia bowling: Fitzpatrick 10-0-39-1, Andrews 5-1-26-1, Pike 10-1-35-1, Sampson 8-2-33-2, Nitschke 7-1-31-0, Sthalekar 10-0-64-3.

Australia: M. Bulow c Chopra b Paranjpe 85, L. Poulton c Raj b Goswami 27, K. Rolton c Kala b Dhar 29, L. Sthalekar c Jain b Khadeer 3, S. Edwards c Goswami b Khadeer 20, S. Nitschke c Rumeli Dhar b Priti Dimri 13, C. Fitzpatrick (not out) 31, J. Purves (not out) 11, Extras (lb-6, w-6) 12. Total (for 6 wkts. in 50 overs) 231.

Fall of wickets: 1-74, 2-133, 3-142, 4-152, 5-180, 6-184

India bowling: Goswami 10-1-43-1, Dhar 10-3-24-1, Sharma 4-0-30-0, Dimri 10-0-44-1, Paranjpe 6-0-36-1, Khadeer 10-0-48-2.

At IIT-Chemplast:

New Zealand: M. Fahey (run out) 4, S. Bates b Colvin 48, H. Tiffen c Newton b Askew 13, S. Tsukigawa lbw b Newton 41, A. Mason st. Taylor b Colvin 48, S. McGlashan b Newton 30, R. Milburn lbw b Askew 25, S. Devine c Newton b Colvin 10, S. Burke (not out) 10, L. Milliken lbw b Guha 2, S. Charteris (not out) 20, Extras (lb-2, w-10, nb-4) 16, Total (for nine wkts. in 50 overs) 267.

Fall of wickets: 1-18, 2-34, 3-114, 4-122, 5-190, 6-208, 7-233, 8-234, 9-239.

England bowling: Rainford-Brent 2-0-16-0, Askew 10-1-55-2, Gunn 7-0-49-0, Guha 6-0-35-1, Newton 10-1-41-2, Colvin 10-0-37-3, B. Morgan 5-0-32-0.

England: S.J. Taylor c Fahey b Milliken 22, L. Newton b Milliken 0, S.C. Taylor c Milburn b Milliken 13, C. Edwards c Milburn b Charteris 42, J. Gunn c Fahey b Milliken 0, L. Greenway b Devine 0, B. Morgan lbw b Devine 13, L. Askew b Devine 68, E. Rainford-Brent lbw b Mason 7, I. Guha lbw b Burke 26, H. Colvin (not out) 13, Extras (lb-7, w-26, nb-3) 36, Total (all out in 45.2 overs) 240.

Fall of wickets: 1-2, 2-37, 3-42, 4-42, 5-57, 6-82, 7-131, 8-138, 9-211.

New Zealand bowling: Milliken 10-2-42-4, Burke 9.2-0-51-1, Devine 8-0-38-3, Bates 8-1-29-0, Mason 6-0-41-1, Charteris 4-0-32-1.

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