In the third and final One-Day International (ODI) against India at the venerable Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on January 2, young Australian opener Phoebe Litchfield produced an incredible century. After winning the toss and choosing to bat first, Alyssa Healy unleashed a furious 20-year-old. In the current series, she reached her third consecutive half-century and also formed a vital opening partnership of 189 runs with Healy, who scored 82 off 85 balls.
Notably, in the series’ opening two games, Phoebe Litchfield scored 78 and 63 runs.
Despite losing four wickets in rapid succession in the nineties, Australia ultimately managed to maintain composure and reach the three-figure milestone. At 119 (125), Deepti Sharma sent her back to the pavilion, ending her innings and left Australia at 256/5.
After hitting her second ODI century, the left-hander broke many records and cemented her place in women’s cricket history. Litchfield has now become the first female hitter to score three fifty-plus runs in an ODI series, both in India and against other countries.
In the current series, the 20-year-old has amassed 260 runs at an astounding average of 86.66; in a three-match ODI series in India, no player has scored more runs than her. She accomplished this by breaking the illustrious Englishwoman Claire Taylor’s record of 225 runs hit in 2006. She surpassed Meg Lanning, the previous captain, who scored 246 runs against the Black Caps in 2016 to become the Australian woman with the most runs in a three-match ODI series.
Apart from all of this, Litchfield also made history by becoming the second Australian female batter to reach an ODI century at Wankhede, following Meg Lanning’s 2013 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup century at the same location. In addition, the 20-year-old is the seventh foreign female visitor to reach a one-day ton in India.
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