Phoebe Litchfield, a promising opener from Australia, had a nightmare start to her India trip when she was run out in the first innings of the one-off Test without having faced a ball. It was only her second Test match, and she was bowled for eighteen when trying a foolish reverse sweep in the second innings. She led Australia to victory in the first two One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and then hammered home her second century in the format at the Wankhede Stadium here on Tuesday, helping her side win the series by a commanding 190 runs.
In order to reach 338/7, the visitors relied on a 189-run opening stand between Litchfield (119) and captain Alyssa Healy (82). In response, Harmanpreet Kaur and company were bowled out for 148 in 32.4 overs by Smriti Mandhana, who top-scored with 29.
In the second ODI, Litchfield scored 63 runs thanks to a healthy dose of good fortune, as India’s fielders dropped her three times.
Mandhana gave India a fast start, but after going 32 balls without a loss, they lost all 10 wickets for an only 116 runs. Deepti Sharma, on 25, stayed unbeaten while Richa Ghosh (19) and Jemimah Rodrigues (25), both of whom got off to a bad start, were unable to finish.
After scoring 9 and 5 in the opening two One-Day Internationals, the 34-year-old was out for 3 this time while executing a planned sweep stroke.
In the field, however, Litchfield also made a spectacular one-handed catch to remove Amanjot Kaur, stealing the show. Georgia Wareham, a leg-spinner with 3/23, was Australia’s best bowler.
