Head’s fate becomes clearer this week; Australian women dominate Windies
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Australia will only start to plan for Travis Head’s arrival in India after an update this week to confirm whether his fractured hand is healing quickly enough to be considered for a place in Australia’s XI for the second half of the World Cup.
Tournament regulations, which state that a fresh player cannot come into the squad unless another is ruled out injured, compelled the national selectors to gamble on Head’s inclusion. But they may yet be forced to withdraw him even if a four-week update, due on Thursday, shows progress.
Travis Head on the attack in India earlier this year.Credit: Getty
Marcus Stoinis’ recovery from a hamstring strain left the Australians with just 13 fully fit players from whom to choose the team for the opening game against India in Chennai on Sunday, and any further injury concerns elsewhere in the squad would leave Head’s place in danger.
Batting all-rounder Matt Short and wrist-spinner Tanveer Sangha have remained with the Australians in India in case any other issues emerge at the end of a taxing year for the team’s multi-format cricketers in particular.
As it stands, Stoinis could only be considered as a non-bowling batter for the opening game, a dicey proposition given his decidedly ordinary returns for Australia in recent ODI matches for which he averages about 18.
The next key date in Head’s recovery is October 12, the day of Australia’s second game against South Africa in Lucknow, when medical staff will be updated as to how his hand has healed after it was struck by Proteas pace bowler Gerald Coetzee last month.
A positive outcome from scans and other testing would allow Head to continue to be in Australia’s plans, because otherwise he would be unlikely to be available until the tournament is all but over.
By way of comparison, Pat Cummins’ wrist injury at the end of the Ashes in August kept him out of action for eight weeks before he was ready to return. The selectors are willing to take Head’s situation right to the wire because of how damaging he can be.
“Travis Head’s such a huge loss for the start of the tournament because he’s somebody who opposition teams really fear because of how quick he can score,” former captain Aaron Finch said this week. “You can bowl as well as possible and he can still destroy you on his day.
“They’re the kind of players that keep you up at night as a captain… when you’re planning for the opposition, because they’re the ones you know, no matter what planning goes into it, if it’s their day they can be brutal.
“I think of Quinton de Kock, Jonny Bairstow, Rohit Sharma or Jos Buttler. When they’re having a day out, they’re so hard to stop and at times they can take the game away from you. So I think Trav will be a big out in that regard, particularly in the powerplay.”
Matt Short is a travelling reserve with Australia’s ODI World Cup squad.Credit: Getty Images
At the same time, none of Head, the selectors or medical staff want to put the left-hander in a position where he risks longer-term problems with his wrist as a result of rushing back.
“We’ll get updates from Trav pretty much every day,” head coach Andrew McDonald said in India ahead of Australia’s opening game. “He’s pretty engaged with the group.
“Official updates, they’ll sort of happen, I think it’s around sort of the 11th or 12th of October where there’ll be another checkpoint with how he’s travelling with that sort of bone healing and that’ll probably give us a lot more information as to the final timeframes and when he potentially can join the group.
“Until we get that information then he’ll remain at home training and sort of prepping his body as much as he can.“
Nathan Lyon, meanwhile, has put his hand up to fly to India if Australia need another specialist spinner later in the tournament. After tearing his calf during the Ashes, Lyon will play club cricket next week and is on track to return for New South Wales in a one-day game on October 20.
“I sent [head coach] Andrew McDonald a text message the other day when I saw Ashton Agar was ruled out,” Lyon said in Sydney on Sunday. “I said, ‘Just to let you know, I’m back bowling 10 overs, I’m right to go, 100 per cent.’
“If that happened, I’d do anything to go over and play the World Cup. The squad they’ve got there looks pretty exciting … and I’m pretty excited about tonight to be honest.”
No Matthews, no Windies as Australia dominate ODI
Australia 2-87 (Healy 38) defeated West Indies 83 (Alleyne 35, Garth 3-8) by 8 wickets
Daniel Brettig
The West Indies were no match for Australia in the first ODI at Allan Border Field on Sunday, falling to an eight-wicket loss after making just 83 without their marvellous captain Hayley Matthews.
It’s a truism of cricket that the longer the format the more likely that the stronger team will win. This would have been true even if Matthews had been playing against Alyssa Healy’s team.
Georgia Wareham takes the wicket of Afy Fletcher.Credit: Getty Images
The West Indies have only ever beaten Australia once in a 50-over game, as far back as the 2013 World Cup, where the Australians reversed that result in the tournament final to begin an unbeaten streak that now stands at 12 matches.
As it was, the quad strain Matthews carried in game three of a Twenty20 series – in which she ran the Australians close – meant that the Caribbean side was without its best player for the start of the ODIs.
The major consequence of this was that the West Indian batting line-up was decidedly callow, and proved no match for the moving ball in the skilful hands of Megan Schutt, Kim Garth and Darcie Brown.
They set the tone for the day after Healy won the toss, ultimately ensuring the West Indies were rolled for a mere 83, before Healy, Phoebe Litchfield and Ellyse Perry contributed handy scores to an eight-wicket victory with a whopping 35.1 overs to spare.
Australia’s pace trio took advantage of the morning air and some freshness in the pitch, dropping the tourists to 3-5 inside seven overs after they had sent out a pair of teenagers – Zaida James and Djenaba Joseph – to open the batting.
Without Matthews, the fate of the innings rested largely with her leadership predecessor Stafanie Taylor, who had provided vital support in a match-winning partnership in game two of the T20 matches at North Sydney Oval on Monday night.
But after fighting her way to 12 in the company of the stand-in captain Shemaine Campbelle, Taylor edged the speedy Brown behind, where Healy took an excellent catch. From 4-29 there was little chance of a competitive tally.
Kim Garth sends one down at Allan Border Field.Credit: Getty Images
So clear was Australia’s dominance that a hamstring complaint for Brown, which meant she did not bowl again after completing her third over with the figures of 1-10, did little to stem the flow of wickets.
Healy had a particularly good day behind the stumps, adroitly stumping the Caribbean side’s top scorer Aaliyah Alleyne off Garth’s bowling when the ball bounced a little more than expected and the striker drifted a fraction beyond her crease.
Earlier, Healy had run, turned and thrown the stumps down to dismiss Cherry-Ann Fraser for a diamond duck after a ball had scuttled away behind square leg off the pad of Alleyne, who made her displeasure clear as Fraser marched off.
Alyssa Healy plays a shot in Australia’s short innings.Credit: Getty Images
Georgia Wareham and Ash Gardner shared four wickets to help mop up the remainder of the innings, although the former’s economy was lacking. Alana King, who took a catch as a substitute fielder, should expect a chance to twirl down her leg breaks at some stage in the series.
Left with such a paltry target, Healy and Litchfield played within themselves, as the new ball did prove somewhat challenging in the hands of Fraser and Chinelle Henry.
After a stand worth 57, Healy glanced Fraser into the wicketkeeper’s gloves, and Litchfield’s stay was ended when she was smartly caught at slip by Campbelle, who had rightly anticipated the reverse sweep Litchfield has made a staple.
That left Perry and Beth Mooney to do the tidying up, which they achieved inside the completion of 15 overs. Game two of the series is at the Junction Oval in Melbourne on Thursday.
Markram mayhem: South African’s 49-ball ton
Reuters
Aiden Markram smashed a 49-ball hundred, the fastest ever the men’s 50-over World Cup, as South Africa’s rampaging top order helped them thrash Sri Lanka by 102 runs in their tournament opener on Saturday.
There was brutal batting at the Arun Jaitley Stadium where three of South Africa’s top four batters smashed rapid hundreds to help them rack up a tournament record total of 5-428.
Quinton de Kock struck 100 and Rassie van der Dussen hammered 108 but both were overshadowed by Markram’s incendiary 106 off 54 balls.
Markram, adjudged player of the match, eclipsed Ireland batter Kevin O’Brien’s 50-ball century against England in the 2011 World Cup.
Former champions Sri Lanka were all out for 326 in 44.5 overs after brief fightbacks from Kusal Mendis (76), Charith Asalanka (79) and Dasun Shanaka (68).
South Africa’s mammoth score replaced Australia’s 6-417 against Afghanistan in 2015 as the highest in the men’s World Cup.
“Happy for us. I can’t find fault with the batting,” South Africa captain Temba Bavuma said.
“We were not quite clinical with the ball, but we will take that confidence into the next game.”
A staggering 31 sixes were hit in the match, to go with 74 fours, on a belter of a track that produced 754 runs.
Shanaka elected to field after winning the toss and the 1996 champions did not have to wait long for a breakthrough.
Dilshan Madushanka trapped Bavuma lbw in the second over but Sri Lanka did not get a chance to celebrate another dismissal in the next 29 overs with de Kock and van der Dussen combining in a rollicking 204-run stand.
De Kock pulled Matheesha Pathirana to reach an 83-ball century, celebrating the milestone by punching the air and letting out a scream.
Aiden Markram blasted a century off 49 deliveries.Credit: Getty Images
He attempted another pull off the next ball, only to top-edge to mid-on and depart after a whirlwind knock that included three sixes.
Van der Dussen’s nearly run-a-ball knock came to an end when he holed out trying to hit Dunith Wellalage out of the park.
Markram, who clobbered 14 fours and three sixes, then took over and boundaries started flowing.
When Sri Lanka returned to begin their chase, Mendis decided to fight fire with fire and raced to a 25-ball 50, threatening to snatch Markram’s record.
Kagiso Rabada came to his teammate’s rescue and dismissed Mendis caught behind after the batter’s 42-ball blitz that was studded with eight sixes and four fours.
“The execution was not there, we were missing the right length. On these kind of wickets that’s very tough,” Shanaka said of his team’s batting.
“We had the momentum, especially the way that Mendis and Asalanka played, but their total was a little too much for us.”
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