Upsets are great for sport, but try telling that to Charlotte Edwards and her girls after they were humbled by Sri Lanka in their opening game of the Women’s World Cup.
All credit to Sri Lanka, who for me have pulled off one of the biggest upsets cricket has ever seen. Nobody gave them a chance. They had never beaten England in an ODI and were expected to limp out at the first stage given their performances at the 2010 and 2012 Twenty20 World Cups.
England missed their chances and Sri Lanka grasped every opportunity they were given, growing in confidence as the game went on and despite losing losing two wickets in the last seven balls, Dilani Manodara swept the last delivery powerfully for six to write her name in history.
A bad day for England, a great one for Sri Lanka. The greatest upset? For me, it ranks higher than the Netherlands beating England, Bangladesh beating Australia and Ireland beating England in 2011. With the resources those teams have, they should be beating top teams on a more regular basis. Sri Lanka’s women are relative newcomers to the international game and they have never threatened such a result before.
It reminded me of Cameroon beating Argentina in the opening game of football’s 1990 World Cup. Few knew much about them before the tournament started but they managed to embarrass the reigning champions – much like Senegal did to France in 1998. England were 1/50 to win this one. While Sri Lanka weren’t quite the 500/1 shot that England were at Headingley in 1981, this was just as big a result for them.
In 2009, England never looked like failing to win the World Cup. They had the same aura about them as Clive Woodward’s rugby team in 2003, and the All Blacks in 2011. They don’t quite have that anymore – indeed, they haven’t since they slipped up in the Caribbean in 2013.
I’m not saying one loss means they can’t win the World Cup, as they have a history of improving as they go on, but what was already going to be a hard job, has been made a lot harder following today’s result.
Australia won their game against Pakistan despite only scoring 175, bowling Pakistan out for just 84. Low-scoring games are always the most entertaining but with only Bismah Maroof (41) making any impression this doesn’t sound like it was a thriller.
And New Zealand got off to a winning start as Sophie Devine hammered 147, Suzie Bates made 42 and Sian Ruck took four wickets to see off South Africa by 150 runs. No slip-ups from down under.
Key moment of the day: The third ball of the final over in Mumbai, Georgia Elwiss has a chance to catch Kaushalya off her own bowling, with Sri Lanka needing two to win in four balls. She drops it, concedes a run, and although a run out followed, England were done there and then. There was to be no way back.
Want to read more on the history of women’s international cricket upsets? Click here for Raf Nicholson’s far more in-depth and insightful blog post on the same game.