Visakhapatnam, Oct 10 (IANS) South Africa’s victory over India in the Women’s World Cup has highlighted a rising trend in this edition of the 50-over tournament — late order batting is the key to victory and defeat, and teams need not lose hope if they lose wickets in quick succession at the top.
Beth Mooney of Australia did it the other day against Pakistan in Colombo. On Thursday, Richa Ghosh and Sneh Rana did it for India while Chloe Tryon and Nadine de Klerk followed suit, hammering all-important runs despite their teams losing six wickets for nothing in the match.
Mooney rescued the reigning World Champions, Australia, from a disastrous 76/7 to guide them to 221/9 in 50 overs, earning herself a well-deserved century in the process. On Thursday, Richa Ghosh hammered a 77-ball 94 and shared vital partnerships with Amanjot Kaur (13) and Sneh Rana (33 off 24) to lift India from 102/6 to 251. Nadine de Klerk blasted an unbeaten 84 off 54 balls, along with Chloe Tryon, who scored 49 from 66 balls, helping South Africa chase the 252-run target in 48.5 overs and secure victory in a thrilling match.
These two matches, along with India’s first two games, reinforced the belief that batting deep is the way to go in this World Cup, and the stats also show that the middle-order batters are thriving in the ICC Women’s ODI World Cup 2025.
According to stats compiled by ESPNcricinfo, the top four batters have scored 1774 runs in 20 innings across 10 matches, including 11 scores of fifty or more and a century partnership. In comparison, batters from No.5 and lower have scored 1740 runs so far, including 10 fifty-plus scores and forming two century partnerships.
South Africa’s Nadine de Klerk agreed that teams that bat deep can extricate themselves from trouble.
“Really glad we got over the line. I think the most important part is, and we’ve seen it in this World Cup, is you just have to stick it out. Doesn’t matter if you’re batting No.8 or No.9, (you just have to) give yourself a chance. I mean, Richa (Ghosh) did it today for India as well. Just try and bat time,” she said in the post-match press conference.
“And I guess when it comes to the back 10 (overs), you can really start backing yourself and try and take the game on. And if it does come off, that 70 or 80 runs in the last 10 makes a massive difference in these totals,” he added.
She also mentioned that seam bowling is somewhat easier to play in the latter part of an innings in this World Cup compared to spin.
“I think seam (bowling) was much easier on this wicket, and I think even when we bowled the back end, we felt like it was a pretty good wicket.
“But I think their spinners bowled really well in that middle phase. So, I think especially in that back 10, we knew they’re going to have to bowl a few seamers, and that was going to be the much easier option to take on. So, I think, like I said, we just played smart cricket. Me and Chloe just tried to take it really deep. We knew that if we had to get 40 of the last four and the two of us were still batting, that we could get it. So, it was just about building that partnership, getting ourselves in and then taking especially the pacers down. And that was always the plan to try and take the pacers down. Which was much easier on that surface,” said de Klerk.
The teams will perform well moving forward, and remember that a match is not over until the final ball, relying on their lower-order batters. If the top order sets the foundation, the lower order can go all the way and capitalise on that. If not, they are there to do the rescue, acting as the world watches them perform another miracle.