On 25th of June, perhaps England still be relishing their ICC World T20 Cup, Australian Women embittered their delight. In the inaugural Women NatWest T20 match England clashed with traditional rival Australia and England got defeated by 34 runs by Australia at Derbyshire’s County. Wounded Australia became growling tigress defeating England in very first NatWest T20 match.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat first, and Australian batswomen robust batting gave the Australians good start. During the power play it was tough for the England to seize Australian batswomen, on and off they kept on losing wickets. First to leave for the pavilion was Leah Poulton(33), then S Nitschke (32) both gave upstart with good runs on scoreboard to Australia. Then KL Rolton(43) and LK Ebasry(24) leaded the scoreboard to 151 runs. Australian batting was impressive and intelligent they used the space given by the bowler optimal.

England Bowled well to some extent but still absence of Brunt was being felt nevertheless NJ Shaw, HL Colvin and JL Gunn bowled good line and length and often there in swing and Yorker were dangerous and gave no room to Australians to go for the shoots hence they played defensive. Overall bowling performance was mixed but all and all it was average to standards. NJ Shaw, HL Colvin and JL Gunn took 1-1 vital wickets to hinder Australians to aggregate huge score.

When England came to bat the mixed emotions was evident on their faces, but frowning and doubting was consistent and it was apparent in their batting too. T20 Champions succumbed to pressure and failed to sustain their batting line up to beat Australia. From the initial overs wickets started falling and England didn’t have good start. The first dent came with the fall of wicket of SJ Taylor (1) it was huge wicket for Australians and then CM Edwards (10), SC Taylor (31), BL Morgan (20), LS Greenway (19) and BL Gunn (6) crumbled and England innings ended on 117 runs in full 20 overs falling short of 34 runs. England was not into its champion socks and they succumbed to pressure though some good and generous batting we saw from SC Taylor and Brent (23) but still they were too slow and sluggish. Boundaries were tough affair in front of Australian bowling and eventually England lost the match by 34 runs.

RM Farrell and EA Osborne bowling confined the England batswomen and didn’t give them vacuum to powerfully swing the bat. RM Farrell with her brilliant bowling just dumbstruck England and England yearned for the boundary. RM Farrell took 2 wickets off just 16 runs and a maiden over, EA Osborne also took 2 wickets. SJ Andrews and S Nitschke took 1-1 wickets.

England was not able to revise semifinal feat against Australians, Australians were too strong both with the bat and bowl. England had been intoxicated with their constant winning of cups but this match came as a realization.

T20 Women’s World Champions England lifted the cup on Sunday at Lord’s after defeating New Zealand in well deserved one-sided match. For the first time in the women’s match count of spectators reached more than 15,000. During the match we could feel the excitement, and the match was purely entertaining. Barely three months earlier England won ICC World Cup, with winning of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, England has proved themselves to be the dangerous side to play. Women’s proving their mettle in the gentleman’s game is something the cricket world are reckoning with. Women’s cricket is day by day with English girls winning the T20 world cup is becoming popular. Now we have the NatWest Women’s International Twenty20 in England between England and Australia; we could feel the thrill and excitement for the upcoming the NatWest Women’s International Twenty20.

England champion’s team remained unchanged for the summer series against challenging team Australia. Inaugural match of NatWest Women’s International T20 will be played at Derby on June 25, rest matches will be played on the following stadiums: Chelmsford, Stratford CC, Lord’s and Wormsley CC respectively. All the action, drama and entertainment will be televised live on Sky Sports.

England in the semifinal faced traditional rivals Australia, whom they beat in fateful and breathtaking match by 8 wickets still 3 balls spared. In awe-inspiring match, Australia scored 163 runs for 4 wickets; it was the second highest total of the tournament. English women hold her nerve and chased the huge score and defeated Australia in the match. With this win and winning of the World cups consecutively reinforces that England is the strongest, undisputable and uninterrupted champions. England prevail every match and it was evident in the final match against New Zealanders, who stood nowhere to English side and lost match adversely. England has beaten Australia many times; still Australia is stronger and can make a comeback with bang. But would it be an experience of déjà – vu for the English side by making Australia bent on it toes again.

Australia has enough strength and capabilities to prove they are stronger and match winners. We had seen them giving tough competition to England and other teams. Australians have been able to fear the opposition, we have often other teams always getting screwed up when they fire, sweating hell out of them. Australians batting is organized and reliable, though the bowling needs the extra attention. Australians needs to hold their nerve till the end and sustain consistently with focus and organization. Though Australians are wounded but wounded tigeress can be hostile and we could see better off them in the NatWest Women’s International T20 series.

Under the stewardship and captaincy of Charlotte Edwards English women has touched the peak of glory and would be expected much harder opposition. But Karen Rolton can infuse team with spirits making Australians roar and growl in the series while crushing the English raj.