Jhulan's women are on top Down Under

Anjum scores 76 to help women's team get revenge over Australia in World Cup

Anjum scores 76 to help women's team get revenge over Australia in World Cup

In a resolute effort to emulate the feats of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Team India, which won the Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, and Virat Kohli's young squad, which captured the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup six months later, Jhulan Goswami's women's team upset fancied Australia in the ICC Women's World Cup by 16 runs at the North Sydney Oval on Saturday.

Put in to bat, the Indian women, who had lost 10 of their last 11 encounters to Australia including the 2005 World Cup final, rattled up 234 for five in their 50 overs and restricted the home side to 218 for seven.

Top effort

India's Anjum Chopra acknowledges the cheers on completing her half-century during the World Cup match against Australia in Sydney. pic/ap

Player of the match Anjum Chopra, who scored 76, and Anagha Deshpande (45) got India off to a confident start scoring 69 before Deshpande fell, caught at the mid-wicket fence by Lauren Ebsary off Lisa Sthalekar.

Thirush Kamini fell for two before former captain Mithali, who has been in good form in the tournament with scores of 59 against England and 75 not out against Sri Lanka, put on 56 for the third wicket before Chopra was dismissed for 76 in the 42nd over.

Captain Jhulan Goswami was out to Sthalekar, who took three for 52 in her 10 overs, for five but Amita Sharma (31 not out off 22 balls) and Hamanpreet Kaur (19 not out off eight balls) took India past 200 for the first time in the tournament.

Goswami, who opened the bowling with Rumeli Dhar (she had taken three Pakistani wickets for seven in that team's paltry score of 57 in a match which India won by 10 wickets), bowled Shelley Nitschke with a dipping inswinger to put Australia on the back foot early on.

With the Indian girls backing up disciplined bowling with smart fielding and catching, the home side next lost Sthalekar, bowled third ball for a duck by Amita Sharma.

Jodie Fields (43) and Jessica Cameron (25) put up a stout resistance before Lauren Ebsary (39 n o) and Rene Farrell (20 n o) ignited a glimmer of home for Australia in the presence of Brett Lee, but it was all too little too late.

Bowling stars

Gouhar Sultana (two for 33 in 10 overs) and Reema Malhotra (two for 32 in six) were India's leading wicket-takers, while Jhulan Goswami (one for 34 in 10 overs), Dhar (one for 41 in 10) and Sharma (one for 57 in 10 overs) held the world champion team's batswomen in check.

Skipper Goswami, visibly ecstatic, said after the match she was proud of her team's "revenge".

In a pre-match comment, Indian-born Sthalekar, Australia's star all-rounder, had told the media she believed India could still be haunted by the 5-0 shellacking handed them in their previous serious series Down Under.

"We want to re-open a few scars," Sthalekar said: "They (India) haven't been playing their best cricket of late ... but this is a World Cup and anything is possible"' adding: "I enjoy playing against them. They take everything quite personally because they work so hard."

In other matches on Saturday, England beat New Zealand by 31 runs, South Africa humbled Sri Lanka by nine wickets, in a match to determine the seventh and eighth positions, and Pakistan shocked the West Indies by four wickets.

England top the table in the Super Sixes round with eight points after Saturday's action. India, who finished second in Group B behind England, are now joint second with New Zealand with four points each in the Super Sixes round.

Australia and Pakistan follow with 2 points each, ahead of the West Indies (0).

India play New Zealand next Tuesday (St Patrick's Day) and the West Indies on Thursday. The final will be played on Sunday the 22nd.

In earlier matches, India:

l Defeated Pakistan by 10 wickets. Scores: Pakistan 57 in 29 overs (Rumeli Dhar three for 7, A. Sharma two for 9, Priyanka Roy two for 13). India 58 for no loss in 10 overs (A. Deshpande 26 no., Chopra 17 n.o.).

l Lost to England by 9 wickets. Scores: India 169 in 48.4 overs (Mithali Raj 59, A. Sharma 33, A. Deshpande 32). England 172 for one in 38.3 overs (Caroline Atkins 69 n.o., Claire Taylor 69 n.o., Sarah Taylor 27).

l Beat Sri Lanka by 35 runs. Scores: India 137 for seven in 50 overs (M. Raj 75, J. Goswami 24 n.o.). Sri Lanka 102 in 44.2 overs (Dedunu De Silva 21, Eshani Kaushalya 20, A. Sharma three for 19, R. Dhar two for 10, G. Sultana two for 16).