Australian woman obstructs field, umpire says no

Despite opener Smriti Mandhana's maiden ODI, the Indian women suffered their third straight defeat on tour when they went down to Australia by six wickets in the second and penultimate ODI at Blundstone Arena, Hobart, on Friday, thereby conceding the ODI series with a game to play.

After their historic T20 series triumph when they won the first two matches, the Mithali Raj-led side lost the third T20I in Sydney last Sunday and the subsequent two ODIs in Canberra and Hobart with big margins.

On Friday, a controversy went nearly unnoticed. Australian vice-captain Alex Blackwell was clearly obstructing the field after top-edging an attempted hoick on the on-side off India's leg-spinner Poonam Yadav. 

The incident occurred off the last ball of the 31st over when Australia were sailing smoothly at 177/2 in pursuit of India's 252/8 with Blackwell on 11 in the company of Ellyse Perry.

After skying the ball, Blackwell ran down the pitch and in front of wicketkeeper Sushma Verma, preventing the Indian from taking a catch. The manner in which Blackwell ran, it clearly showed that she was dodging the wicketkeeper underneath the ball.

While visuals on the official Cricket Australia website seemed to indicate that the Indian players did not appeal and hence Blackwell continued to bat, reality was that the umpire felt that Blackwell did not obstruct the field.

A lady TV commentator said on air when replays were being played: “I know Alex quite well. I hope she doesn't take the wrong way. I actually think she knew exactly what she was doing there... she did start to go down the wicket towards the line of the ball which technically means she is obstructing the field. She has actually done it twice this year in WBBL (Women's Big Bash League) as well.”

According to sources close to the Indian team, captain Mithali did appeal to the umpire for obstructing the field. However, the umpire withdrew as according to him Blackwell was not obstructing the field.

Law 37.3 deals with 'Obstructing a ball from being caught' and says: “The striker is out should wilful obstruction or distraction by either batsman prevent a catch being made.”

One can only imagine the hue and cry should the Australian team be at the receiving of such an incident.

Eventually, Blackwell fell for 19 and Australia women won by six wickets with 20 balls in hand.

For the record, Mandhana, at 19 years and 202 days, became the second youngest Indian woman to score an ODI century and the seventh youngest of all time. Her skipper Mithali holds the record for the youngest from any country, with her first century coming when she was 16 years and 205 days.

Packed schedule leaves girls exhausted
Meanwhile, it was learnt that packed scheduling and lack of practice facilities seem to be leaving the Indian women exhausted and in turn affecting their performance. Since the team arrived in Australia on January 19, they have only been playing matches with hardly any practice session.

Of the two practice matches scheduled before the T20 series began on January 26, one had to be withdrawn while the other had to be abandoned after only four overs due to rain.

It is never easy travelling to Australia by any cricketing side, especially from the sub-continent, considering the tough conditions on offer. And without adequate practice sessions, it is furthermore difficult for the Indian women to put up a fight in the ODIs, especially as more than half the squad is playing there for the first time.

Play a match, pack the bags and travel to the next venue and play seem to be the routine for the Indian women Down Under. They are drained so much so that the team played an ODI (February 2) on the second day of the completion of the T20s (in Sydney on January 31). It was learnt that the team had a net session only prior to the start of the ODI in Canberra.

Also, the team was not provided practice sessions on non-match days as the day after the scheduled match is kept as a reserve day in the event of rain.

However, a BCCI official said that such has been the scheduling for short tours. “It's the same schedule as the men. If it is a longer tour, you travel one day, practice the next day and then play (a match). At times, if you are in the same city or the distance between two venues is less that you drive down and play the second day,” the official said.

Brief scores: India 252/8 in 50 overs (Smriti Mandhana 102, Mithali Raj 58, Shikha Pandey 33*; Ellyse Perry 3/54, Megan Schutt 2/35) lost to Australia 253/4 in 46.4 overs (Nicole Bolton 77, Meg Lanning 61, Ellyse Perry 31, Jess Jonassen 29*, Alyssa Healy 29*; Shikha Pandey 2/50, Rajeshwari Gayakwad 2/42)