Greats call for Australia innovation

Australia great Lisa Sthalekar and former England captain Charlotte Edwards have called on Australia to be more innovative following their Women’s World Cup defeat to England in Bristol.

The defending champions fell three runs shy of victory chasing England’s 8-259, with a late flurry of runs from Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy and Jess Jonassen ensuring the chase went down to the final ball.

Full report: Australia suffer first Women's World Cup defeat

But Australia’s chase had stagnated during the middle-overs, thanks largely to the efforts of left-arm spinner Alex Hartley whose 10 overs went for just 31 runs.

After Lanning departed for a 46-ball 40, No.5 Elyse Villani struggled to keep the scoreboard moving, notching 14 runs from 31 deliveries before falling to Anya Shrubsole.

At that point, Australia still needed 87 runs with 52 balls remaining.

Alex Blackwell struck 21 from 17 at No.6, but when Ellyse Perry’s 86-ball stay at the crease came to an end on 70 in the 47th over, the Australians still required 42 from 19.

And despite the best efforts of Healy (14 off six), Gardner (11 off seven) and Jonassen (12no off seven), they were unable to get their side over the line.

Australia bat as deep as No.9 and while Healy, Gardner and Jonassen are all top-order batters for their respective state and Women’s Big Bash League teams, breaking into the upper half of Australia’s line-up is a hard task, given the calibre of a top six that consists of Nicole Bolton, Beth Mooney, Lanning, Perry, Villani and Blackwell.

But Edwards believes Australia need to be more adaptable, given the weapons they have in their XI.

"The big question for me is Healy and Gardner need to be up this order," Edwards said on television broadcast following the match. 

"They changed this game for Australia. (During those) middle overs, there needs to be a change in the Australian batting line-up. 

"It looked too stagnated at times, all very samey. 

"What England do better than Australia is they innovate more, they get (runs) behind the wicket.

"And that's what England did to Australia (when batting). They hit all around the wicket and at the moment, I don't think Australia do that."

Villani’s innings on Sunday was in stark contrast to her efforts against Pakistan in Leicester last week, when she struck a half-century from just 34 deliveries.

Sthalekar conceded Villani had been a good foil for Perry throughout the tournament, but suggested Australia could try moving either Healy or Gardner up the order for Wednesday’s clash with India.

"We've seen already throughout this World Cup that (Villani’s) been quite the explosive player at No.5, a nice foil after Ellyse Perry who tends to be quite succinct with her technique and traditional," Sthalekar said. 

"(But on Sunday) she ate up a lot of balls and found it quite difficult on this wicket. 

"I think that was the deciding factor. Whereas Healy and Gardner, straight away they struck it so cleanly. 

"They are the two cleanest strikers in the Australian team, I think, especially from ball one. 

"If you need to change something straight away, I think you have to put them up the order."

Speaking after the match, Australia captain Lanning said she had considered sending in either Gardner or Healy earlier.

"We spoke about it, but we back all our batters in to come out there and be really positive, and to take the game on," Lanning said.

"It was spoken about but we thought that the order we had would be the best option. 

"I thought our tail did a really good job to get us very close, I thought it was overs 30 to 40 which was where we lost it in the end."

Australia did make one change to their order, with Perry coming in at No.3 ahead of Lanning.

Lanning did not say whether it would be permanent change, revealing the decision had been made during the innings break. 

"We just decided at half-time that Pez would bat at three and me at four," she said. "But I was in a couple of balls later so it made no difference.

"Ellyse Perry's a great No.3 to come in if I don't come in. We were just playing that by ear a little bit, it doesn't really upset the team too much at all so I don't think it's a big issue.

Asked whether the decision had been influenced by her shoulder, Lanning said: "I guess a little bit. It's just working out what the best option is for the team so that's what we decided to go with today."

Australia: Beth Mooney, Nicole Bolton, Meg Lanning (capt), Elysse Perry, Elyse Vilani, Alex Blackwell, Alyssa Healy (wkt), Jess Jonassen, Ash Gardner, Megan Schutt, Kristen Beams.

England: Tamsin Winfield, Lauren Beaumont, Sarah Taylor (wkt), Heather Knight (capt), Natalie Sciver, Danielle Wyatt, Katherine Brunt, Jenny Gunn, Anya Shrubsole, Danielle Hazell, Alex Hartley.

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Australia World Cup squad: Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell (vc), Nicole Bolton, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Meg Lanning (c), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington.

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