‘What have I done?’ Australia were facing a record run chase. This is why the pressure was on their opponents anyway

During Australian cricket’s imperial phase from about 1999 to 2007, the teams of Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting often found themselves in trouble, either through a batting collapse or in the face of a big opposition partnership.

Whatever the situation, Australia’s players fully expected that one of their number would step up with a blinding performance that would redress the balance and carry on the team’s near-unbeaten record during that time.

Perhaps as importantly, the opposition expected it too. Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath, Ponting, Waugh, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist... the threat could come from anywhere.

Before Australia’s dominance, the West Indies relied for years on the likes of Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall, Viv Richards and Brian Lara to do likewise, maintaining an aura of invincibility that lasted for well over a decade.

So it is with the women’s side led by Alyssa Healy and currently marching towards qualification for the knockout stages of the ODI World Cup in India.

Overnight on Sunday it was Healy who stepped up after a recent run of outs, blasting 142 from 107 balls to make a world record chase of 331 against India in Vizag look something like routine.

Healy’s heroics arrived the game after Beth Mooney and Alana King had pulled the Australians out of a huge hole against Pakistan, turning 8-115 into 9-221, more than enough to secure victory by 107 runs. And in the opener against New Zealand, Ash Gardner’s powerful century had flipped an uncertain 5-128 to an unchaseable 326.

India had, by Healy’s reckoning, been on track for something closer to 380 after batting first on a flat surface. Healy also said that her bowlers delivered some “junk” to the likes of Smriti Mandhana (80 from 66 balls). Healy had, counting on some nighttime dew to make batting easier, sent India in to bat.

“Eight overs in, I was like ‘what have I done?’ I thought we were chasing 380,” Healy said after the game. “We have been preaching about the depth in our line-up, the fact that we could chase 330 [proved it].

“Full credit to our bowlers for pulling it back; we could have been chasing 360-plus. I was trying to lock in for a big day. To contribute heavily was great, I would have liked to stay a bit longer but the girls got the job done.”

The Australians have struggled in recent games to take Indian wickets early – this was the fourth game in a row where India had got through the first 10 overs of the innings without loss, setting them up for big scores.

Healy has been reluctant to use the leg spinner King against the left-handed Mandhana, and last night she held back King until the 26th over as a consequence. Against batters with wickets in hand, King was expensive, but might easily be used more aggressively to try to force an earlier breakthrough.

As it was, the disciplined seamers of Annabel Sutherland (5-40) were instrumental in ensuring that Australia’s chase was limited to more reasonable dimensions.

From there, Healy’s innings was an overdue contribution by the captain, who had a top score of 30 in six previous innings since the start of the tour.

Her attacking talents are given plenty of latitude by the fact that the Australians have enormous batting depth. With a batter as capable as Sophie Molineux at No.8 and even King at 10, there is plenty of licence to keep attacking.

By contrast, many of Australia’s opponents do not have confidence in their lower order to maintain momentum or even prevent a major reversal of fortunes, as India lamented in sliding from 4-294 to 330 all out.

There is pressure on the rest of the world to put together the perfect game to beat Australia, whereas Healy’s side knows it can forge through to victory even if from a fair way short of their own rarified levels of perfection.

A similar sense of worry used to envelop the teams facing Waugh and Ponting’s men. At the 2007 World Cup, for instance, South Africa batted first in a semi-final and went too hard, too early as they tried to post a huge score. The result was a target of just 150 and an easy win for Ponting and company.

Nevertheless, the fact that Healy’s side are having to go to the well for brilliant individual displays on a repeated basis does indicate that the rest of the world is getting closer to them.

For as Australia’s men and also the West Indies before them, found out, conjuring miracles on a repeated basis does eventually become impossible to sustain. To secure this World Cup and retain the title won in New Zealand in 2022, Healy’s Australians will want to find a more even spread as the semi-finals get closer.

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