Mark Butcher.
| Photo Credit: P.K. Ajith Kumar

When Radha Yadav ran towards the chance offered by Beth Mooney at long-on, there was tension in the air at Lord’s. Under normal circumstances, you would expect Radha to take the catch with ease; she has taken much tougher, more spectacular ones all through her career. She is one of the best fielders in women’s cricket.

But at the Women’s T20 World Cup, she had been going through a terrible time. She was just failing to catch. It looked like she was incapable of even catching a cold. The 26-year-old did catch Mooney, though. And she was relieved and happy, she threw the ball down furiously.

The Women in Blue celebrated. They had posted what appeared to be a competitive total of 170 for four, thanks largely to skipper Harmanpreet Kaur’s brilliant shot-making towards the end. But for her 27-ball 56, Australia would have finished off the match well ahead of schedule.

When Deepti Sharma accounted for Mooney, the Australian scorecard read 68 for three in 9.1 overs. Another 103 runs were still required in less than 11 overs. The Indian players, and the large crowd that came to cheer them on, had reasons to hope.

The one that took it away

Watching Mooney depart was her long-time teammate Ellyse Perry. She was joined by Ashleigh Gardner. Together, they ended India’s hopes of reaching the semifinals.

They forged what was one of the best partnerships you would come across at this level. There was still plenty of batting left for Australia — no team bats as deep as it — but they were determined to finish the job themselves. If one of them had been dismissed, India would have been back in the game. They did not get out until the match was decided. When Perry finally fell, skying a catch to Shafali Verma off the impressive Shree Charani, Australia needed just three to win.

Perry and Gardner showed yet again how crucial they are in a side filled with match-winners. This may be a team in transition, after the retirements of Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy, but it remains well ahead of main rivals like England and India, especially in the shortest format.

In the semifinal against the West Indies at the Oval on Wednesday, Perry had to go back to the dressing room after playing just seven balls, retired hurt. But it was just a precaution, Mooney would later clarify. Gardner had another starring role. She made an unbeaten 35 off 20 balls to help Australia finish the chase of a very modest total with seven overs to spare.

Back in the groove

She had been amongst the wickets, too. That is good news for Australia ahead of Sunday’s final at Lord’s. Gardner is glad to have got her bowling rhythm back.

“I feel like I probably haven’t had the impact that I would have liked, especially with the ball,” she said shortly after winning the Player-of-the-Match award in the last-four clash. “I’ve probably just been a little bit inconsistent. When Sophie (Molineux) has thrown me the ball, I probably haven’t played the role that she has probably wanted.”

But Gardner delivered against the West Indies, taking two for 13. “In this game, I had that type of performance, certainly when it mattered,” she said. “It is always really pleasing. I guess that it gives me a lot of confidence going forward.”

Shift in mindset

The 29-year-old said it was more of a mindset thing. “I feel like I just tried to make my game really simple. I focused on looking at the stumps when I was bowling. That sounds really silly, but when I was narrowing my focus, I could execute a little better. We knew that keeping the stumps in play for a long period of time, just with the variability in the bounce, really helped.”

Gardner felt that her performance against India was a morale-booster. “Cricket is a very humbling sport at times, but you try to ride that confidence to really utilise it,” she said. “Cricket is such a unique game where you can feel like you are hitting the ball well but then you make no runs. So I guess it is about trying to take out the positives that you can.”

Looking back at Australia’s convincing win over India, Gardner said she enjoyed the 100-run partnership with Perry. “That was one of the best partnerships I have been involved in. There are not too many other people within this unit that I have played so much cricket with. I have played with Perry for well over 10 years now, so we have a great understanding of each other’s game.”

Blindly trusting each other

Both had tremendous trust in each other. “We were really specific and deliberate in the way we were speaking in the middle,” she said. “Understanding each other and giving each other options out there… to have that is pretty cool.”

Perry relished that alliance just as much. “It was a really enjoyable partnership with Ash,” said the woman regarded by many as the greatest female cricketer of all time. “Having had the opportunity to watch the way the first innings played out, we knew that it was sort of possible to accelerate through the middle and back end.”

She was all praise for Gardner’s approach. “The way Ash came out was really important in the context of the game. I thought that she shifted the momentum beautifully. We spoke a lot about targeting the first couple of balls of an over, and she did that incredibly well. It just gave us some momentum in the chase. On a good ground, once you get that, you sort of put yourself in a good position. So, it was a lot of fun.”

Gardner was as effusive in the praise of Perry. “She is like red wine,” Gardner said. “She is someone who has gotten better and better. Just the evolution of her game.. she has known that the global game has gone at such a fast pace and that it doesn’t settle or slow down for anyone. So she knows that she needs to keep up with that pace.”

Gardner admires Perry’s bravery. “It can be quite hard at times when you feel like you don’t have that confidence, but she is someone who always tries to take the game on. For someone with so much experience and so much willingness to keep evolving, it just shows younger players like me that there is no real ceiling on that stuff. She is a fantastic leader within our group, within that space, and generally as well.”

Unique in their own way

While Perry is at the top of her game more often than not, she stressed that every tournament had its own challenges. “This one has been extremely enjoyable and the quality of cricket that has been played right across the competition… the response from the English public to watch the matches has been amazing, too,” she said. “The atmosphere at various grounds has been so cool to play at. Beating India was a real highlight.”

Perry described skipper Molineux as “unique”. “Every captain I play with is unique, but Soph brings a very unique style,” Perry said. “She is such a people’s person. She makes everyone laugh. She knows when to have fun, when to be serious.

“She makes sure that they are heard all the time and are valued for their contribution to the group. I hope that kind of comes across in the way we are playing because it’s been so much fun. It doesn’t guarantee you anything but when you are playing with that kind of enjoyment, it creates an opportunity for a team to do some really good things.”

The two brave women are now ready for the final. They will go into that match at Lord’s with impressive numbers.

Perry has 2,482 T20I runs and 131 wickets, while Gardner, who has played lesser games, has 1,630 runs and 84 wickets.

It is to be recalled that Australia hasn’t won an ICC event since 2023. “Not having any trophies in the cabinet has probably been frustrating over the last 18 months,” Gardner said.

“It is really pleasing that going forward we can take the confidence out of what we have done. Hopefully, we win another trophy on Sunday”.