ICC Women’s World Cup 2017, Australia vs New Zealand: 5 Talking Points

#2 Cool and calm heads of Perry and Blackwell ensure victory for the Aussies

Ellyse Perry played a calm and composed innings

The Australians had done well to restrict New Zealand to 219 and they started off well. However, captain Meg Lanning and Elyse Villani’s dismissals off successive deliveries put them in pressure as the game approached the final stages.

At that stage, the Aussies still needed 77-odd runs to win the game in 16 overs. As the game hung in balance, the onus was on Ellyse Perry and Alex Blackwell to take Australia over the line. Perry, at that time, was batting on 30 off 47 balls while Blackwell had just come to the crease.

The duo kept calm and stitched together a crucial partnership. They abstained from taking any risks whatsoever and patiently waited to put away the bad deliveries. By the time the partnership was finally broken, Perry had scored 71 and Australia needed just one run to win the game.