Injury scare for Perry as Australia march into World Cup final

Australia marched into their first World Cup final in three attempts by swatting aside the West Indies at the Oval, but not without an injury scare for prime all-rounder Ellyse Perry.

Reeling in a small West Indies total with minimal fuss to win by eight wickets, the Australians were discomforted by the sight of Perry retiring hurt with what was later described as “quad awareness” in the closing stages of the chase.

Beth Mooney, who guided the pursuit with a punchy 61 from 36 balls, suggested Perry’s exit was mainly as a precaution ahead of Sunday’s final at Lord’s against England or South Africa. At 35, Perry will not want to miss another T20 Cup final: she was an unfortunate absentee from the 2020 decider in front of a huge crowd at the MCG.

“I think it was just a little bit of minor quad awareness,” Mooney said. “Obviously, there’s a lot on the line now for us, and perhaps at that point in the game there wasn’t too much in the way. I think we needed less than five an over, so it was very precautionary.

“My mindset didn’t change. I was trying to smack some boundaries and still tried and didn’t do that so successfully after she got out, but Ash [Gardner] came in and did that for me. So yeah, no concerns there with Pez [Perry]. I think it was the right call to get her off and make sure she’s right for Sunday.”

There was major relief in the Australian dressing room about reaching the decider after semi-final losses to South Africa in the UAE in 2024 and again in the ODI Cup against India last year.

“Yeah, it’s a much better way to be sitting in a press conference after a semifinal, that’s for sure,” Mooney said.

“But yeah, it’s been well documented we haven’t quite got over the line in those big games in the past. So even chasing 125, it’s never over ’till it’s over. So you want to make real sure of it. And thankfully we were able to do that both with the ball and the bat.

“[We’ve] certainly spoken about, in the lead-up to this tournament, how we can manage ourselves better in big games and in pressure moments. So, individually and collectively, we’ve done a lot of work on how to manage that and how best to present ourselves and show our skills when it matters. And fortunately, today, pretty much everyone nailed their role.”

The West Indies had problems from the start as their best batter Deandra Dottin was dramatically carried from the field before play and was unable to bat at the top of the order due to what was described as a “health issue”. She would later re-emerge bravely to carve out an unbeaten 26 from 16 balls with the tail, but by then Australia had well and truly corralled the innings.

Spinners Ash Gardner (2-13), Georgia Wareham (2-17) and Sophie Molineux (2-30) scooped 6-60 between them from 11 overs. Australia’s selectors will have to consider recalling wrist spinner Alana King for the final, given how well the slow bowlers have stymied opponents.

It’s been a decade since Australia were beaten – and beaten up – by a powerful West Indies in a T20 World Cup final. Since then, the teams led by Meg Lanning, Alyssa Healy and now Molineux have benefited from steadily increasing resources and better payment, while the proliferation of franchise T20 leagues have also provided an incentive to go for power.

West Indies captain Hayley Matthews made an emotional appeal after the game for more investment in her team to better compete with Australia.

“The reason we were so successful back in 2012 to 2016 is because women’s cricket was based off pure talent at that time,” Matthews said. “The minute that investment comes into the picture, we’ve seen the gap widen a lot.

“Our girls have to fight a lot to even be competing and to be playing at this level. It makes it really hard for us to compete when we don’t have pathway programs in place and then teams like Australia are pushing out Phoebe Litchfields from 15 years old every single year. I feel like it’s a bit unfair sometimes.”

Mooney said her team were under no illusions how fortunate they were to play for one of cricket’s richest countries.

“Yeah, it’s a tough one,” Mooney said. “I think, as we saw today, they’ve got some world-class players. I think, Hayley stays out there for five or 10 more overs and it’s a different story. We’re probably chasing 150 or 160. You know, I certainly think that part of our job as, athletes is to be ambassadors for the game. Not just in Australia but around the world.

“For us, that’s about making sure we show up for bilateral series across the globe, no matter who it’s against. And that’s one of the beauties of playing the ICC ODI Championship, is making sure that we play every team and give them the opportunity to come up against the top nations and also maybe the less resourced nations as well.

“I’m not across their financials and their spreadsheets, but I’m sure there’s the challenges of having a lot of different countries into one team makes it very difficult to get the team together a lot to train. But yeah, I can’t comment too much on what that looks like, but I do know how lucky we are to play for Australia, and we certainly don’t take that for granted.”

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