Mumbai: Phoebe Litchfield continued her rich vein of form with a magnificent century as Australia Women flayed India to post their highest-ever total of 338 for seven in the third and final ODI here Tuesday.
Litchfield cracked as many as 16 fours and a six to make 119 off 125 balls and put on a record 189-run stand for the first wicket with Australia captain Alyssa Healy, who also cashed in on the opportunity with an 85-ball 82 (4x4s, 3x6s).
Australia, who already have the series in the bank, were relentless with the bat from the word go and despite Shreyanka Patil’s 3/57, the visitors made merry on a placid wicket that proved to be a batting haven.
Litchfield and Healy’s 189-run stand is now the highest for any wicket among all the visiting sides in India in the 50-overs format, bettering South Africans Lizelle Lee and Laura Wolvaardt’s 169-run partnership for the first wicket in 2021.
Having possibly missed out on making tons in each of the first two ODIs with scores of 78 and 63, Litchfield showcased her rich arsenal of strokes all around the park to flatten India.
Litchfield, however, was also lucky when Deepti Sharma could not hold onto a tough diving catch to her left, off Amanjot Kaur (10-0-70-2) in the 19th over, when the batter was on 62.
If it was any consolation, Deepti had Lichfield caught by Harmanpreet Kaur in the 40th over and with that the right-arm spinner became only the fourth Indian to have taken 100 wickets in one-day cricket.
Patil was the most successful Indian bowlers with 3 for 57 in her 10-over spell, with her twin strikes in the 36th over providing some respite on a tough day out in the field for her teammates.
Patil trapped Beth Mooney (3) and Tahlia McGrath (0) leg-before on consecutive deliveries to peg Australia back, albeit momentarily, as the visitors’ aggressive approach again brought them back on top.
Ashleigh Gardner’s 27-ball 30 with four fours, Annabel Sutherland’s 21-ball 23 (2x4s, 1x6s), and late fireworks yet again from Alana King — 26 not out off 14 balls, three sixes, one four — helped Australia better their own record.
King took 19 runs off Vastrakar’s final over as Australia bettered their own record for highest-ever total against India in ODIs. Australia had made 332/7 in March 2018 at Vadodara.
Apart from a slew of misfields and dropped catches, Indian team was also guilty of conceding 28 extras, which gave further push to the visitor’s massive total.
Early on, Healy was lucky when she got an inside edge which fell short of wicketkeeper Richa Ghosh off Vastrakar in the ninth over.
But Healy was more belligerent in comparison to her younger opening partner Litchfield, before being cleaned up by Vastrakar for India’s first success in the 29th over.
Having spilled as many as seven catches in the last game, India’s fielding certainly did not seem to have improved a great deal when Smriti Mandhana spilled a sitter at deep midwicket to give Ellyse Perry a reprieve.
But much to the relief of India and Mandhana, Amanjot trapped Perry soon after for a nine-ball 16 featuring three fours, sparking a fightback for the hosts.
PTI
