Casual observers could be forgiven for feeling a sense of deja vu as Australia secured a series victory over Pakistan with a second crushing victory in the space of three days in Brisbane.
In consecutive outings Australia bowled first, stifled Pakistan’s batters and then chased down the target with oodles of wickets and overs to spare, Phoebe Litchfield scoring the winning runs on both occasions.
And yet it was the subtle differences in the way each victory played out that underlined Australia’s strength in depth and ability to perform in varying conditions – and highlighted the gulf between the two sides.
While Allan Border Field offered plenty of turn for Australia’s spinners in the first ODI, the same pitch was tailor made for Meg Lanning’s seam bowlers to take centre stage; they did so with authority, Australia bowling out Pakistan for a meagre 125 in 43 overs before chasing down the runs in fewer than 20 overs and without losing a wicket.
First up was Kim Garth, the former Ireland international who has taken a determined and patient path to her first ODI appearance for Australia, a month after her T20I debut for her adopted home against India.
Garth was a 14-year-old prodigy when she first played for Ireland in both white-ball formats; almost 13 years later, after moving countries and plying her trade in the WBBL for the Sydney Sixers and the Melbourne Stars while she waited to become eligible for the national side (she did so in September), the 26-year-old’s self-belief has paid off. She will head to South Africa next month as part of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad.
Megan Schutt was rested for the second of three matches in the series, giving Garth the opportunity to open the bowling with Darcie Brown. From the start, the pair threatened the edges and the stumps more regularly than Australia had in the first match and while Brown was the wicket taker, finishing with 3-32 off eight overs, Garth’s miserly figures of 0-13 in the same number of overs – including four maidens – were the most economical of the match.
Garth’s ability to swing the ball and produce nip off the seam gives her captain another talented toy to play with and Lanning rotated her bowlers with relish, using seven in total, one fewer than in the first ODI.
Brown’s first wicket was a beauty, a ball to Sidra Ameer that combined pace, bounce and seam as it nipped away and climbed sharply to catch the shoulder of the bat on its way through to Beth Mooney’s gloves. She followed up with two more when Omaha Sohail was beaten for pace and chopped on to her stumps and Aliya Riaz edged to the keeper.
But while Brown’s efforts won her the player of the match title, the rest of the bowling attack was just as relentless.
Lanning turned to Ash Gardner in the 11th over and in the 13th she had Muneeba Ali’s measure as the opener sliced a lofted delivery over cover-point, although it took a superb piece of fielding from Ellyse Perry to complete the dismissal, running towards the boundary and pouching the ball at full stretch.
When Lanning threw the ball to Annabel Sutherland the allrounder took just two balls to strike, trapping Pakistan captain Bismah Maroof lbw. Maroof, who scored 21, was again one of two batters to offer some resistance alongside Nida Dar. Dar was unlucky to be run out on 24 at the non-striker’s end when Sidra Nawaz’s straight drive clipped the fingers of Garth on her follow through and smashed into the stumps.
The rest of Pakistan’s line up crumbled as Lanning marshalled her bowling resources superbly, bringing Alana King in to bowl at the tail; she took two wickets in two balls to wrap up an almost faultless display in the field.
The only blots on Australia’s copy were a dropped catch by Litchfield at second slip and another proliferation of wides – 19 in total to add to the 23 bowled in the first ODI. Neither were costly in the context of this match but such wayward bowling may hurt Australia against sterner opposition and will surely be a focus for the final match of this series in Sydney.
Australia’s overall excellence in the field allowed Mooney and Litchfield to run rampant, particularly with batting conditions much improved from Monday. Mooney had been out cheaply in the first match and her determination not to miss out a second time was clear as she creamed a boundary off the first ball of the chase on her way to an unbeaten 57 off 55 balls. Litchfield was a delight to watch on her second ODI appearance for Australia, showing off a couple of cheeky ramp shots for good measure.
It was a cheerfully aggressive romp home by the openers and Litchfield, top-scoring with 67 off 61, finished the match by skipping down the pitch to Sadia Iqbal and thumping the ball through the covers for four. It was an emphatic finale to a crushing win and, after two such results, it’s hard to imagine anything but another one-way contest in the dead rubber on Saturday.
