🏏ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2025: InW vs AusW Match.13🏏 - Page 14

ENGW 206/6 (45.2)

CRR: 4.54

Sri Lanka Women opt to bowl

Partnership: 38(64)

Last Wkt: Charlotte Dean c Dewmi Vihanga b Udeshika Prabodhani 19(36) - 206/7 in 45.3 ov.

Last 10 overs: 37 runs, 1 wkts

Toss: Sri Lanka Women (Bowling)

Tammy Beaumont: Conditions changed throughout the innings. New ball skidded on nicely. We practiced for a lot of spin but it wasn't spinning. Around 25-30 (overs), the pitch really changed and it started to spin. The way that Nat navigated the period was really important. Few little cameos from Deano at the end there. She's just unbelievable (Sciver-Brunt). Doesn't seem to feel pressure while batting. The way she adapted, started off aggressively when the ball was skidding on and then allowing the ball to turn past the bat a couple of times, staying composed. Shows how good she is and how lucky we are to have her in the team. We spoke a lot about trying to be gritty and getting stuck in. We found the conditions to be different in the first 10. For me it was about trying to take the game on and get us ahead of the game knowing it might spin later. Probably a bit disappointed to let Amy down in that way and then get out myself.

Players walking out onto the field. Just about ready for the chase. It'll be Lauren Bell to start, one slip in place.

Mid-innings pitch update from Pommie Mbangwa: When I look down here on the scuff marks, there is dryness. Been difficult for the groundstaff to add moisture because of the weather around. Has been turning from the straight. It's a decent enough wicket, yes it's difficult to score, but if you stay in, you can cash in later.

Nat Sciver-Brunt vs SL-W in ODIs

Inngs: 10

Runs: 523

Avg: 74.71

SR: 120.22

50s/100s: 3/2

Nat Sciver-Brunt’s batting in this tournament

vs Pace: 36(24), SR: 150.0, 6x4s

vs Spin: 113(134), SR: 84.32, 8x4s, 2x6s

England batters vs Spin in this tournament

Runs: 362

Balls: 511

Dismissals: 10

Avg: 36.20 — (best among all teams)

SR: 70.84

Dot%: 56.0

Oh dear, Athapaththu is flat on the floor and looks to be in pain. Replay shows that she was hobbling while taking that single. Cramp maybe? Physio is out and doing some stretching. Sri Lanka will hope that it's only cramp. Can't afford for anything to happen to their one big star. Wait, a stretcher is being brought out and this isn't looking good at all. Athapaththu is writhing in pain as the physio holds her leg. She's now being stretchered off the field.

ENGW 253/9 (50)

SLW 164/9 (45.2)

CRR: 3.62 REQ: 19.29

Sri Lanka Women need 90 runs in 28 balls

Partnership: 7(32)

Last Wkt: Sugandika Kumari b Charlie Dean 4(8) - 157/9 in 40.1 ov.

Last 10 overs: 22 runs, 3 wkts

Toss: Sri Lanka Women (Bowling)

I think, it is certain that it's going to be an easy win for EngW.

🏏ICC Women's World Cup 2025:India Women vs Australia Women, Match 13🏏

Venue: ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam

The most-awaited clash

Batting collapses and low totals on slow pitches, catches put down, questionable umpiring decisions, mostly one-sided matches…if there is a contest the Women's ODI World Cup 2025 needed to kick it alive and make it a blockbuster spectacle, it's India vs Australia. Australia clean-swept the Women's Ashes earlier this year, winning all seven games across formats. India have won all 12 of their ODIs against Pakistan. As a result, the face-off between India and Australia has the makings of an epic on the biggest stage.

All 15,087 tickets have been sold out for India vs Australia - obviously scheduled for a Sunday - and the ACA-VDCA Stadium's near-26,000 capacity is set to break the record for the highest attendance at an ICC women's T20I or ODI World Cup league match, current held by the ACA Stadium in Guwahati, which had a crowd of 22,843 in the opening game of this World Cup.

As the competition nears its halfway stage, India have a lot at stake. While both teams have stumbled their way to Visakhapatnam after collapses in all their respective games, it cost India two points when their five bowling options and the batting-friendly conditions couldn't put the brakes on South Africa and Nadine.

Australia's last defeat in ODI World Cup history was what changed the discourse around women's sport in India. On a rainy day in Derby, when Harmanpreet Kaur dismantled the Australian attack one audacious stroke at a time, it not only reshaped perceptions of women's cricket back home, but also sparked a newfound conviction within the team that they could stand toe-to-toe with the best in the world. From dark horses who narrowly missed out on silverware in 2017 to genuine title contenders in the 2025 World Cup on home soil - India have made rapid strides, with key clashes against Australia often serving as pivotal turning points in their journey since. The most recent of which was the run-filled game in Delhi just last month, showcasing how far power-hitting in women's game has evolved.

While that bilateral fixture offered an appetising preview of what's to come from the two teams, their World Cup performances so far haven't quite justified their billing as tournament heavyweights. India and Australia have shared few similarities in their campaigns - both teams have had their batting depth tested by unfancied sides early in the competition, neither have had their perfect game yet, and both have dropped points they must have been banking on. While for Australia it was a washout that forced them to split points with Sri Lanka in Colombo, India have only themselves to blame for the two they gifted to South Africa in Vizag.

India and Australia find themselves on the collision course in their pursuit for that perfect game that will, hopefully, set their rhythm right.

At the halfway stage in their campaign, the cracks are beginning to show for the hosts. India's faltering batting order had problems aplenty - right from strike-rate concerns to underperforming stars to an unlikely matchup causing headaches - on top of which South Africa exposed an unaddressed flaw. India's lack of a sixth proper bowling option is a tactical gap in the strategy that will only widen unless they make some tough calls to get their combination and balance right for pitches that have no demons and for opponents that won't be as forgiving as Sri Lanka and Pakistan were in the past.

"We regroup, we study the match, we plan how to improve, take the positives, and look forward to the next game. We don't dwell on the loss; instead, we focus on how to tackle the next challenge better," an optimistic Sneh Rana said of recovering from a stinging defeat just ahead of a marquee game like Australia's. If India have indeed thought plans over, they sure aren't revealing them yet.