Alana King left one of Shane Warne’s former teammates in awe, had the crowd hungry for more and bamboozled England’s batters, as Australia took a major step forward in completing an Ashes whitewash on Thursday.
On a day Ellyse Perry’s involvement in this match came into question after an injury in the field, the new star of Australian women’s cricket delivered a leg-spin masterclass befitting the historic occasion of the MCG’s first day/night Test.
Alana King (right) after taking a catch off her own delivery to dismiss England’s Sophia Dunkley at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
King returned a career-best figures of 4-45 from an epic 23-over spell, broken only by the tea break, delivered, fittingly, from the Shane Warne Stand End, as Australia dismissed England for 170. Offers of a break from Healy were swiftly rebuffed. When in such form, bowlers don’t like having the ball taken away from them.
“Pretty nostalgic,” King said of the Warne connection. “He’s taken plenty of poles on the MCG for fun. All I can say is hopefully he’s smiling down and having a couple of beers and enjoying a few ripping past the outside edge.”
Australia’s top order negotiated the night session, the most difficult time to face the new pink ball, for the loss of debutant Georgia Voll.
On 1-56 at stumps, the Australians know another dominant day on Friday, this time with the bat, will have them commandingly placed to complete the first Ashes clean sweep since the points format was introduced in 2013.
But they may have limited involvement from superstar Ellyse Perry, who landed awkwardly on her hip in the field during the second session. She did not return to the field and was replaced from her listed spot in the batting order at No.3 by Annabel Sutherland. Cricket Australia says Perry will be reassessed on Friday morning.
The English men have revived their fortunes in the Test arena with their turbocharged Bazball brand, but their female colleagues were smothered by an Australian attack that rarely erred, vindicating captain Alyssa Healy’s call to send in the beleaguered visitors.
If the women’s game commanded the same attention as the men’s, King would be one of the biggest names in the country. She certainly has the game to back it up.
The leading wicket-taker in this all-format series, King continued to mesmerise England’s batters, this time with the pink ball, which has generally favoured seamers over spinners.
King’s four wickets told only part of the story as to her impact. It did not take into account the four missed chances off her bowling, one from her own hands, or that the first of her wickets – Sophia Dunkley – ended the most substantial partnership among England’s frontline batters, and the disarray she left the visitors’ innings in.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge is a fine international batter, a veteran of 292 appearances for her country, but she was made to look like a starstruck rookie by King.
From 24 balls to King, Wyatt-Hodge managed just six runs. Scoring shots were the exception, and plays and misses the norm, in a spell where she was thoroughly worked over by King, who had the rare luxury in the white-ball dominated women’s game of two slips and a fielder in close.
Alana King after taking the wicket of England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt.Credit: Getty Images
In one over, the 43rd of the innings, Wyatt-Hodge could have wielded a bat twice as wide and still failed to find an answer to King, who landed a series of leg-breaks which drifted sharply in the air and fizzed off a well-grassed MCG pitch admittedly conducive for such bowling. South Africa’s Daryll Cullinan, Warne’s bunny, could perhaps empathise.
An appreciative crowd of 11,643, which would max out many of the boutique venues Healy’s team usually play at but is dwarfed in a stadium the size of the MCG, gave her a rousing ovation at the end of the over.
Michael Hussey, the man dubbed Mr Cricket and who shared a dressing room with Warne, is not one for hyperbole, but he was captivated by King’s performance.
“We used to call Shane Warne the King, but I tell you what Alana King is bowling like a king at the moment, or a queen, I should say,” Hussey said on the Fox Cricket broadcast. “This is amazing bowling.
“Wyatt-Hodge has a couple of options here. Does she try and hang in and survive, hoping she gets a few loose balls or does she put the pressure back on Alana King?
“You sense if she keeps on the crease and looking to defend there’ll be a ball with her name on it.”
Hussey was right. Wyatt-Hodge survived the King’s over from leg-spin heaven, but three overs later closed her face to a sharp turner and was brilliantly caught by Phoebe Litchfield, diving to her right under the lid on the off-side.
Even Nat Sciver-Brunt, who dug in for more than 3¼ hours for a fighting 51, had trouble against King. Gifted a life on 44 by Healy, who could not get low enough to get her fingers under the ball at the unfamiliar position of first slip, Sciver-Brunt was bowled soon after swiping across the line.
“When it does turn it’s not always the same amount every time,” Sciver-Brunt said of the difficulty of facing King. “Some might skid, some might turn and bounce. That makes it quite tricky when the stumps are always kept in play.”
A horrible mix-up, resulting in a run out, prevented King from completing a five-wicket haul. It was one of England’s few achievements on another dark day of the tour.
