Hello, good afternoon/very early morning and welcome to the second Australia v England T20.
The first match in this Ashes series turned into a bit of a cakewalk for Australia, largely thanks to a formidable all-round performance by Tahlia McGrath.
With ball in hand McGrath turned the game by prising out both Nat Sciver and Danii Wyatt with a couple of toe-endangering yorkers. She then set about England’s total of 169 with the bat, arriving at first drop to join captain Meg Lanning, the all-rounder went on to produce a quite scintillating innings. A couple of brutally dismissive pull shots have been on a loop in my mind ever since.
In notching up 91 runs off 49 balls and snaring 3-26, McGrath became the first player in women’s T20Is to score more than 75 and take three wickets in the same match. Now that’s a STAT.
All this whilst shouldering the pressure of coming into the side ostensibly in place of one of the all-time greats… Ellyse Perry could be seen watching on during McGrath’s knock, smiling generously but perhaps a little nervously beneath her sunhat.
“I think that’s one of the best innings I’ve ever seen”, Tammi Beaumont – one time teammate of McGrath’s at Adelaide Strikers said afterwards. Much as she admired it, Beaumont and her England teammates won’t want to witness a repeat any time soon.
What of England? Well, they looked a little ring rusty in the field, perhaps understandably given the topsy-turvy run up to the series, they’ll be keen as Dijon to get some points on the board from the remaining brace of T20 games ahead of the four-point Test match ding-dong in Canberra next week.
Jim here with the call on my maiden voyage aboard the good ship OBO, it’s the wee small hours here in south London so any company, thoughts or theories are very welcome – you can email, tweet or fax* me and let’s see what the next few hours bring.
I’ll be back shortly with team and toss news, in the meantime I’m off to grind up some Colombian beans** and try not to wake my nine-month-old in the room next door. Or the 3oo+ month old for that matter…
*Kidding of course, I’m still not sure I entirely understand how a fax works?
**Alright, alright – it’s instant Kenco.