A good afternoon at Manuka - pefect weather, and nice to see England keep the series (or at least the prospect of a drawn series) alive. Sadly I can't make Tuesday's denouement, but I will be glued to the TV.
A few observations:
Geez, Sarah Taylor's good, with both bat and gloves. Her stumping to remove Villani off a fast bowler was an incredible piece of reaction keeping.
England were generally very sharp in the field - they took every chance that was offered, and their ground fielding was excellent as well. Australia by comparison spilled a couple of chances early on, and managed to fumble quite a few balls over the rope. It could have made the difference.
Manuka usually produces a belter, but it felt as though the surface was a bit slow today - the ball wasn't quite coming on to the bat as quickly as the batsmen were expecting. Both sides obviously expected this and changed up to include extra spinners and didn't bowl too many overs of pace. Taking the pace off generally seemed to be an effective tactic.
Katherine Brunt was deservedly player of the match - an excellent innings took England up to a competitive total after Sciver and Taylor laid the groundwork, and her bowling was pinpoint accruate. Well played
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Gunn did well and returned some good figures, but she only really got one over that mattered - her last two overs came when Australia were already 7 down and needing 12 an over to win, so the writing was on the wall. Her run-out to take out Mooney was a key moment - Australia were cruising the chase until then.
It was clearly not Ellyse Perry's day, with bat or with ball. England need to keep her quiet again on Tuesday to level the series.
Good crowd at Manuka - the attendance was over 4000, which I think is on part with the other grounds/games (although I can't find the figures). It was great to see so many women and children there - the fact that under 15s got in free surely helped - good move Cricket ACT!