The first round of the World Cup resulted in all matches being classed as “no result” as rain at lunch prevented the continuation of play. Australia’s team for the first match against England was Belinda Clark (c), Karen Rolton (vc), Lisa Keightley, Mel Jones, Lisa Sthalekar, Alex Blackwell, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Julie Hayes, Julia Price (wk), Clea Smith and Emma Liddell.
England won the toss and batted making 7/169 off their 50 overs.
Charlotte Edwards and Laura Newton put on 44 before Edwards (26 off 43) was out lbw to Hayes in the 12th over. Nineteen more runs were added in four overs before two wickets fell in the space of 6 balls with the score on 63 – Newton (31 off 43) was caught by Liddell off Hayes while captain Clare Connor was out for a duck, bowled by Liddell.
Claire Taylor and Lydia Greenway combined for 31 off 10 overs before another two wicket burst in 6 balls halted England’s momentum – Taylor (24 off 44) was caught by Hayes off Rolton while Greenway (11 off 28) was caught by Smith off Sthalekar.
Rosalie Birch followed 7 runs and 4 overs later, run out by Hayes throwing to Price for 8 off 11. Nicki Shaw and Jenny Gunn took the score to 128 in the 43rd over before Fitzpatrick bowled Shaw for 17 off 56.
An unbeaten stand of 41 for the 8th wicket saw England finish on 7/169, Gunn not out on 40 off 50 while Jane Smit was not out on 7 off 19.
Hayes was the only multiple wicket-taker with 2/32 off 10 but was well supported by Rolton (1/17 off 7), Sthalekar (1/26 off 10), Fitzpatrick (1/30 off 10) and Liddell (1/38 off 9). Smith (0/24 off 4) was the only other bowler used.
With rain preventing further play, the points were shared 3 apiece.
In other round 1 matches:
* South Africa 7/204 off 48 overs (Shandre Fritz 48 off 61, Claire Terblanche 41 off 65, Daleen Terblanche 36 off 83; Barbara McDonald 2/26 off 10, Jill Whelan 2/38 off 9) after being sent in by Ireland
* New Zealand made 8/178 off 50 overs (Maia Lewis 77 off 148, Nicola Browne 25 off 35; Philippa Thomas 2/19 off 7, Nelly Williams 2/32 off 10) after being sent in by the West Indies
* Sri Lanka were all out for 116 off 46.5 overs (Siriwardene 29 off 63, Fernando 21 off 49, Kumarihami 20 off 56; Neetu David 3/17 off 7.5, Al Khader 2/28 off 10) with India 0/4 off 2 in reply.
In the warm up matches, Australia defeated Northern’s 4/267 to 36 and Free State 2/287 to 74. In each match the top six batters were allowed 12 overs and the remainder seven overs before being retired if not out.
Australia’s next match is against New Zealand on Thursday at LC Oval.
(Note: This article was originally written for the Cricketwoman website in 2005. It may contain links to Cricketarchive which have long since ceased to exist. Cricketwoman was a partner website of Cricketarchive at the time of the 2005 Womens World Cup. – RE, 2017-07-21)