On October 7th 2012 in Colombo, Australia and England met in the final of the T20 World Cup. It was the third edition of the tournament with both teams having won before, England in 2009 and Australia in 2010.
Both England and Australia were in the same pool, along with India and Pakistan. England finished on top having defeated all other teams while Australia finished second.
In the semi-finals England defeated New Zealand while the Aussies knocked off the West Indies to put the two old enemies together in the final.
Charlotte Edwards won the toss for England and invited Jodie Fields and the Australians to bat first. Alyssa Healy and Meg Lanning put on 51 runs in good time before the latter fell for 25. It was 68/2 when Healy was dismissed and that brought Lisa Sthalekar to join Jess Duffin who was having a bit of a party on her own.
Duffin smashed 45 runs from 34 deliveries, including five fours and a six. Sthalekar finished with 23 not out with Australia 142/4 at the end of 20 overs. It was less than the score they made in losing to England in the pool match, but then again, runs on the board in a final… Holly Colvin was best with the ball with 2-21.
England lost Laura Marsh when the score was 20 and Charlotte Edwards when it was 44. It became 61/3 with the dismissal of Sarah Taylor. England clawed their way back into the contest but the Aussie bowlers strangled the scoring rate with Sthalekar (2-16) and Jess Jonassen (3-25) the chief destroyers. England finished 138/9 giving Australia victory by 4 runs and a second successive title.
Jess Duffin was named player of the match. It all happened on this day in 2012 in Columbo.
Scores:
Australia 142/4 (Jess Duffin 45, Alyssa Healy 26, Holly Colvin 2-21) defeated
England 138/9 (Charlotte Edwards 28, Jess Jonassen 3-25, Lisa Sthalekar 2-16) by 4 runs
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images