Australia has defeated India 3-0 in the one-day international (ODI) series after a stunning performance from Phoebe Litchfield and Alyssa Healy.
The 20-year-old left-hander from Orange, Phoebe Litchfield, notched up her second ODI century with 119 runs in the third ODI match of the series.
Opening for Australia in the first innings at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, her partnership with captain Alyssa Healy gave Australia 189 runs off 179 balls, the best by any opening pair against India
Phoebe Litchfield, take a bow! 👏👏👏
— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) January 2, 2024
That's a second international hundred for this young ⭐️.
📺 Watch #INDvAUS on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports: https://t.co/VNpf5Xojhg pic.twitter.com/4VPRgEoW9h
Healy fell in the 28th over with 82 runs, kicking India into gear. The hosts took four wickets for just 27 runs.
Meanwhile, Litchfield carried on for another 11 overs and gave Australia a confident start to the third match of the series against India, finishing the 50 overs with 7/338. It was the highest score against India to date, so the hosts had to pull out a record-breaking chase to keep up.
But Litchfield wasn’t finished. As India went in to bat in the second innings of the match, the 20-year-old took an extraordinary one-handed catch in the 22nd over.
Her catch was the sixth wicket to fall, and ten overs later, India was all out for just 148 runs.
Phoebe is HER! She's done it again! #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/SJ0QqdEW7Y
— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@AusWomenCricket) January 2, 2024
Litchfield’s performance won her not only Player of the Match, but Player of the Series. In the three matches against India, she scored 260 runs with an average of 86.67.
Litchfield has become the first woman to hit three scores above 50 runs in a three-game ODI series both against and in India. In the first ODI she scored 78, while in the second she scored 63.
Litchfield has scored more ODI runs in a calendar year before her 21st birthday than any other female Australian cricketer. Her 485 runs in 2023 outscored Meg Lanning’s previous record by just one run.
The three-match ODI series against India is part of the Australian women’s cricket team tour of India. The tour began in December 2023 with a test match, where India defeated the visitors by eight wickets.
The tour will wrap up with a three-match T20 series. The first game will be played on January 5 (12:30am AEDT January 6) in Navi Mumbai, India.
In February 2023, the Australian women’s cricket team won the T20 World Cup. Their win saw them dubbed as the most dominant cricket side in the world.