#TeamUSA Women have taken one win & one defeat vs Queensland Women in Brisbane to start the tour of Australia. A 4-run win in the morning Twenty20 match, was followed by a 34-run defeat in the afternoon game.
The morning game was a low scoring affair, with #TeamUSA batting first and getting through to 79/8 off their 20 overs. Candacy Atkins top scored with 26, while Onika Wallerson chimed in with 20. For Queensland, the wickets were shared around, with Mettam, Davey, and Wikman taking 2 each.
It was always going to be tough to defend the low score, however coach Anand Tummala was ecstatic with the way his team responded to the challenge.
“Winning the first game was great feeling for the team. It was an excellent display of bowling & fielding by the girls, as we put relentless pressure on the Queensland Women’s Team. It was a low scoring game and we executed the bowling & fielding plans excellently well. Some excellent catching & disciplined bowling got us the first win in our very first game.”
The opening bowlers for #TeamUSA in Shebani Bhaskar and Neha Anand, had Queensland under pressure from the start, taking wickets in each of the first 4 overs of the chase. If Queensland thought that the change bowlers might bring some respite, they were quickly proven wrong, with Onika Wallerson’s great all-round performance accounting for 3 of the Queensland scalps in her 3 overs. Annie Wikman’s 27 was the only innings of real substance as the visitors dismissed the hosts for 75 with 2 overs left in their innings.
In the afternoon game Queensland batted first and scored a relatively imposing 120/7 in their 20 overs. Georgia Voll with 54 not out was the mainstay for the hosts, while for team USA Shebani Bhaskar backed up her 2 for 10 in the first match with an even more impressive 4 for 17.
#TeamUSA Women take one win & one defeat vs Queensland Women in Brisbane to start the tour of Australia???
A 4 run win in the morning Twenty20 was followed by a 34 run defeat in the afternoon game. We’ve got scorecards, match reports & more coming up….#WeAreUSACricket?? pic.twitter.com/zrYc15Oa49
— USA Cricket (@usacricket) March 25, 2018
Despite a relatively good start to the chase, the #TeamUSA innings fell away after the loss of the 3rd wicket, with the biggest partnership of the innings being 21 for the 2nd wicket. Shebani Bhaskar underlined her all-round value to the side by top scoring with 31. Coach Tummala was disappointed with the result, but was equally proud of his team’s overall efforts on their first full day in Australia.
“The second game was a bit disappointing… We didn’t execute our plans as consistently as we would have liked. However, I think we showed tremendous character in playing two back to back games a day after we landed here in Australia against a quality team. The Players had a good recovery session in the pool, & we head out to the National Cricket Center of excellence tomorrow for Strength & Conditioning sessions & nets. Cricket Australia have made excellent arrangements here for Team USA.”
The next match on tour will be a 50 over game against the same opposition on Tuesday.
Match Results:
United States of America Women 79/8 (20/20 ov); Queensland Women 75/10 (18/20 ov); Scorecard
Queensland Women 120/7 (20/20 ov); United States of America Women 86/10 (20/20 ov); Scorecard
The fixtures in full are as follows and can be explored by clicking on the schedule section of the website by clicking here.
Full Schedule
Sunday 25th March (AM) – T20 v Queensland Women, South Brisbane CC
Sunday 25th March (PM) – T20 v Queensland Women, South Brisbane CC
Tuesday 27th March – 50 Overs v Queensland Women, South Brisbane CC
Wednesday 4th April – T20 v NSW Select Women, Raby Oval, Sydney
Thursday 5th April – T20 v NSW Select Women, Raby Oval, Sydney
Friday 6th April – T20 v NSW Country Women, Bradman Oval, Bowral
Touring Squad
Shebani Bhaskar (Captain)
Sugetha Kalyanaraman
Erica Rendler
Onika Wallerson
Nadia Gruny
Samantha Ramautar
Sindhuja Reddy
Claudine Beckford
Neha Anand
Sara Farooq
Uzma Iftikhar
Candacy Atkins
Anahita Arora
Rabia Shahid
