Australia 180 (Perry 60, Ecclestone 4-35, Capsey 3-22) against England
Heather Knight’s decision to bowl first on a green pitch appeared to have backfired as the gray skies at the toss had been replaced by crystal blue as Australia cruised at 131 for 2 with Perry looking imperious having surpassed 50 for 38th. time in his ODI career. , barely offering a false throw in the process.
Ecclestone, the world’s number one bowler, had made an indifferent start with the ball after being strangely kept out of the attack until the 18th over, and had not been brought on until the 15th over in the first ODI in Sydney.
She struck the second ball, trapping Phoebe Litchfield lbw for 29 as the left-hander moved around trying to reverse sweep.
Ecclestone then over-attacked Perry and Mooney for three overs, bowling at times with only two fielders outside the circle. Perry hit a boundary through cover and hit a six towards the ground with half-up and half-up. Mooney also pinged deep unprotected cover offside.
Ecclestone eventually sent some sweepers back and it immediately paid dividends. Mooney was caught lbw, hit on the back leg by one that turned sharply. England needed a review to overturn the initial decision not to be eliminated.
Capsey then moved up the middle order with his part-time by-product after replacing Charlie Dean at the back of the pavilion. He passed up a relatively easy catch-and-shoot opportunity offered by Sutherland. But it didn’t cost him much as Sutherland couldn’t sustain another advance and found Knight in cover.
Then Perry stalled. He had run to 51 off 52 balls, hitting five fours and two sixes. He never went more than 14 balls without finding the rope and hit a six and two fours in the space of five balls to reach the milestone.
But having reached 51, he scored just nine runs off his next 22 balls with Ecclestone and Capsey pushing for having taken two wickets at the other end.
In the 29th over, Capsey delivered four consecutive points to Perry, never leaving the stumps and almost trapping his lbw off the fourth ball. He slipped away with the fifth when Perry slammed his bat against his pad but missed the ball. At first they did not deliver it, but England succeeded with another review.
Capsey added to his haul when Gardner left a big gap between bat and pad while attempting an ambitious drive up and missed it.
Knight seized the moment and brought Lauren Filer back to the out-of-form Tahlia McGrath. Filer had looked like Bambi on the ice in his first two spells, slipping and falling to the ground in his stride almost half a dozen times while conceding 34 in five overs.
But he beat McGrath for pace, hitting the top of an exposed leg stump as McGrath remained sidelined.
Ecclestone returned to clean up the tail alongside Lauren Bell, who also finished with 2 for 25, having earlier claimed Alyssa Healy’s first wicket for 29 for 19 after Australia had raced to 43 for 0 in the ninth over.
Alex Malcolm is associate editor of ESPNcricinfo
