Taylor fires England into summit clash by CricketArchive Staff Reporter

---

Ground:	Kennington Oval, Kennington
Scorecard:	England Women v Australia Women
Player:	SC Taylor, KL Rolton, S Nitschke
Event:	ICC Women's World Twenty20 2009

---

DateLine: 19th June 2009

 

Claire Taylor with a brilliant 76 not out from 53 balls steered England to the final as they chased down a formidable target of 164. Taylor cracked eight fours in a superb 122-run third-wicket stand with Beth Morgan. In the final they will meet New Zealand.

 

Charlotte Edwards won the toss and elected to bowl first on a new wicket. The Australian openers Nitschke and Poulton produced a superb opening partnership of 78 in nine overs to power Australia 163 for five. Crucially for England, Caroline Atkins dropped a sitter at mid-off to reprieve Nitschke on three in the third over of the game. Poulton was the more aggressive of the two as she clattered boundaries at will and once Nitschke settled down she began to shift gears much to England’s dismay.

 

Holly Colvin was soon introduced into the attack, but there was no respite as the openers continued to flourish. Colvin finally removed Nitschke as she was caught behind for 37 off 25 balls. Off the very next delivery, Marsh cleaned up Poulton with a superb top-spinner as she was beaten by the flight and turn ending up playing outside the line. After a quiet period Rolton soon began to change gears and was dealing in boundaries and to make it worse she was running the fielders ragged along with Lisa Sthalekar.

 

Both of them put together a well-paced third-wicket stand of 60 in 46 balls. Rolton took upon herself to give the much needed momentum to the innings as she employed the cuts and the drives to push the score ahead. To the surprise of many Rolton even heaved Gunn over midwicket for a huge six and was looking good for many more. Just when it seemed that she got hold of another one which was heading towards the deep midwicket, Brunt intercepted the shot.

 

Brunt knocked over Sthalekar for 28 from 21 balls, and in the final over Gunn claimed a deserved wicket as Alex Blackwell slogged and missed. The charge never came in the final overs as the English bowlers fought back well to restrict the Australian innings to 163 runs in their 20 overs.

 

England in reply opened with Edwards and Sarah Taylor and they were off to a flier as Edwards crashed three boundaries in the second over of the innings. Farrell claimed the wicket of Taylor in the very next over. Just when Edwards was looking good, she edged Perry behind the stumps. Just when it seemed that Australia looked like taking control of the game Taylor and Morgan had other plans.

 

Both the batswomen bid their time before opening up. The important aspect of their partnership was that they ran the Australian fielders ragged. Both the batswomen kept the scoreboard ticking as they found the boundaries when the asking run-rate climbed and then kept the ones and twos coming. After the 11th over both began to find the fence in almost each over as the Australians wilted. With the required target coming down, the bowlers began to bowl freebies to the batswomen and they prospered. For her effort Taylor was adjudged the player of the match.