(Cricket News) Alyssa Healy won the toss and chose to bat first, so Phoebe Litchfield, a young opener for Australia, struck a remarkable century on January 2 at the legendary Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. This was her third consecutive half-century in the ongoing series, and she also shared a vital opening stand of 189 runs with Healy, who hit 82 off 85 balls.
Notably, Litchfield scored 78 and 63 in the opening two games of the series. Despite losing four wickets quickly when she was in her nineties, she managed to stay composed and eventually reached the three-figure mark.
Her innings ended on 119 (125) when Deepti Sharma dismissed her, leaving Australia at 256/5. The left-handed batter smashed multiple records to leave her legacy in women’s cricket history. She became the first woman batter to score three 50-plus scores in a three-match ODI series, both against and in India.
No player has scored more runs in a three-match ODI series in India than the 20-year-old, who has amassed 260 runs at an astounding average of 86.66 in the ongoing series. She broke the record held by England great Claire Taylor, who scored 225 runs in 2006.
She also set a new record for the most runs by an Australian woman in a three-match ODI series, smashing the record held by former captain Meg Lanning, who scored 246 runs against the Black Caps in 2016.
In addition to being the seventh visiting woman to score a one-day ton in India, Litchfield, 20, also made history by becoming the second Australian woman batter to score an ODI century at Wankhede, following Meg Lanning’s 2013 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup century at the same venue.
