King spins it big but discipline key as England loom – cricket.com.au

With Georgia Wareham also on song, it was a leg-spinning masterclass against Bangladesh – which might spell trouble for England
If any of England’s batters happened to flick on the World Cup action on Thursday afternoon, they may have been perturbed by what they saw.
In Visakhapatnam, Australia leg-spinner Alana King – England’s tormentor throughout January’s 16-0 Ashes clean sweep – was putting on a clinic against Bangladesh, in ominous signs ahead of the fierce rivals’ showdown in Indore next Wednesday.
While Alyssa Healy stole the limelight with her second century in as many matches as she led Australia to a 10-wicket demolition of the Tigresses at ACA-VDCA Stadium, it was King who walked away with player-of-the-match honours.
The leggie’s miserly display, which saw her send down 10 consecutive overs, including four maidens for figures of 2-18, was crucial in ensuring that despite a scrappy night in the field, Healy and opening partner Phoebe Litchfield (84no) were set a target of just 199.
King extracted turn of up to nine degrees from the Vizag surface, bamboozling a Bangladesh line-up raised on a diet of spin bowling.
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Along the way, she became the first leg-spinner, from any country, to deliver four maidens in a Women’s ODI World Cup game since fellow Australian Louise Broadfoot in Pretoria in 2005.
“I’m just trying to bowl my best ball and trying to extract as much as I can out of the wickets,” King said. “We know sometimes (the pitches) are not going to offer as much, but to have some turn and bounce today, I was really pleased to see (that), and I think most or all of our spinners actually got the same bit of purchase as well.
“I think naturally you want to change up the pace that you bowl … I was just trying to extract as much as I can with my best ball and probably going up and down the gears of the pace.
“We know that Bangladesh are quite good against spin, they play quite square off the wicket, so also just challenging them on the front foot is what I was trying to extract and having some (fielders) in their eye line to see if they’re going to play a different shot, but I kept my plan pretty simple.
“I didn’t want to get too bold and we spoke about that as a bowling unit; we wanted to be really disciplined in the length that we’re trying to bowl and force them to play a different shot that they’re not comfortable with.
“I probably didn’t expect it to get that much spin, but once you do, it’s just adjusting your plans ever so slightly.”
King’s spell on Thursday was complemented by the efforts of fellow leg-spinner Georgia Wareham, who took 2-22 from seven overs; it meant the Australians sent down 17 overs of leg spin at an incredibly miserly 2.35 runs per over.
Given their success, and knowing that Bangladesh had named an XI featuring three leg-spinners of their own, King said she and Wareham had spoken to Australian openers Healy and Litchfield during the innings break around how they might navigate that threat.
“We just, as a unit, spoke about trying to put on a big partnership to get ourselves into the game and give ourselves a chance … and I think the difference between our spinners and the Bangladesh spinners is they just bowl a bit slower, so they actually might extract a little bit more spin (than us),” King said.
“So, it’s being really patient and choosing your options well, and Phoebe and ‘Midge’ (Healy) did that incredibly well, and they showcased that once you get yourself in, it was going to be hard stopping them.
“Credit to them, they took all the information on board that we gave at the halfway mark, and they played an incredible innings and set the whole game up for us.
“To chase a total like that with none down, it’s going to give a whole lot of confidence to the whole team and to our batting line-up.”
Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
October 1: Australia beat New Zealand by 89 runs
October 4: v Sri Lanka: Abandoned without a ball bowled
October 8: Australia beat Pakistan by 107 runs
October 12: Australia beat India by 3 wickets
October 16: Australia beat Bangladesh by 10 wickets
October 22: v England, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
October 25: v South Africa, Holkar Stadium, Indore, 8:30pm AEDT
Semi-final 1: Guwahati or Colombo*, October 29, 8:30pm AEDT
Semi-final 2: Mumbai, October 30, 8:30pm AEDT
Final: Mumbai or Colombo*, November 2, 8:30pm AEDT
All matches to be broadcast exclusively live and free on Prime Video.
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