Australia won their seventh Women’s World Cup with a dominating performance highlighted by Alyssa Healy’s 170. They put up 356/5, and bowled out England for 285 in the final despite Nat Sciver's unbeaten 148.
Heather Knight won the toss and decided to took the bold – and unusual – decision to bowl first. England went with an unchanged XI from the semi-final, while Australia brought in Ellyse Perry for Annabel Sutherland.
Australian openers Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes began cautiously, reaching 37/0 after 10 overs. Then they switched gears, almost doubling the score by the 15th over, and reaching a hundred by the 22nd. En route, Haynes was dropped by Danni Wyatt and Healy by Sciver, both off Kate Cross. Haynes also completed her fifty in that over.
By the first ball of the 23rd over, both openers got their fifties and looked good for more. Knight kept changing her bowlers, albeit without success. Runs came more freely as Healy took centrestage. She played some audacious shots – conventional or otherwise – all around the ground.
Sophie Ecclestone eventually broke through, in the 30th over. She enticed Haynes to play a false shot, and had her caught by Tammy Beaumont for 68. Meg Lanning, comfortable to shuffle the batting order to maintain the left-right combination, promoted Beth Mooney.
By then, the unstoppable Healy had reached her century by the 34th over at exactly a run a ball. Her second fifty took her just 38 balls. She also became the first player across genders to score a hundred in the semi-final and final of the same edition. She continued to toy with the bowling, and soon became the first to cross 500 runs in this World Cup. Having hit 13 fours in her first hundred, she hit 13 more in her next 70, which took her just 35 balls.
At that stage, it seemed she would get a double hundred, but she missed one from Anya Shrubsole, and Amy Jones pulled off a brilliant stumping. She eventually scored 170 in 136 balls with 26 fours.
Ash Gardner, promoted to No. 4, was run out in the same over. Shrubsole got Meg Lanning and Mooney, the latter for a 47-ball 62. But Perry and Tahlia McGrath joined in the fun to take Australia to 356/5.
It was a steep target, but the brilliant Sciver, England's best player of the tournament, kept their hopes alive.
Before that, Megan Schutt got both openers inside seven overs. The second wicket brought Knight and Sciver together. They kept the run rate around six, ensuring the asking rate never got out of hand. Then leg spinner Alana King sent Knight back.
Sciver continued to play her shots and built key partnerships with Jones and Sophia Dunkley. At one stage, England were 179/4, scoring at a run rate above six, with Sciver timing brilliantly and Dunkley supporting her sensibly. Perhaps they hoped for a miracle.
Then Dunkley tried to paddle sweep King and was bowled round her legs. King also got Katherine Brunt in the next over to finish with 3-64. Neither Ecclestone nor Cross lasted, but Sciver found a reliable partner in Charlie Dean. She completed her hundred in 90 balls and kept scoring at a good pace and kept hitting boundaries.
England needed 98 off the last 10 overs. However, Dean’s resistance ended in the 43rd over when Jess Jonassen held on to her reverse sweep. Jonassen then herself induced a mishit from Shrubsole, and Gardner held the catch that sealed the match. Sciver remained unbeaten on 148 off 121 balls as Australia won the final by 71 runs.
Brief scores
Australia 356/5 (Alyssa Healy 170; Anya Shrubsole 3-46) beat England 285 (Nat Sciver 148*; Jess Jonassen 3-58) by 71 runs. Player of the Match: Alyssa Healy.
Australia won the World Cup. Player of the Tournament: Alyssa Healy.