Premonitions, jinxes, curses – it’s foolish to believe in them, you’d think. But if they were good enough for Shane Keith Warne, who famously admonished Mark Nicholas in the commentary box for saying David Warner had never been dismissed in the 90s, they should be good enough for anyone.
And so you could only feel a sense of serendipity when Alana King, Australia’s ice-cold leg-spinner, turned one a mile to get the breakthrough wicket against England in their World Cup opener – with Alyssa Healy whipping off the bails at the other end.
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It was a much-needed tonic on a day when for many, sport – and especially cricket – seemed utterly superfluous – such was the tragic and premature loss of the 52-year-old.
But the show much go on – and as Warne did so many times in the green and gold, King provided the breakthrough as the Aussies looked to break down some stiff English resistance.
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King was thrust into the attack at the mid-way point of the match, with England needing 183 from 25 overs.
With just her ninth ball, she had the key breakthrough, turning one a mile to induce a big air swing from Tammy Beaumont, who was stumped by Healy for 74.
As quickly as she celebrated – she was tapping the black armbands on her left bicep – one for Rod Marsh, one for Warne, as a sign of respect.
On top of his Test dominance, Warne was well known for getting Australia out of jams with devastating spells in 50-over cricket, so it was only appropriate that King would play a huge hand in steering the Aussies to a win.
She would get her second wicket, that of Amy Jones, in her following over, turning the game completely in Australia’s favour, and then later bowled Sophia Dunkley around the legs when the game was getting tense again.
It came after a mammoth 3-310 effort from the Australian bats, Rachael Haynes making 130 and skipper Meg Lanning 86, along with valuable contributions from Healy, Beth Mooney and Ellyse Perry.
Despite a brilliant century from Nat Sciver, England fell just short – Jess Jonassen producing some clutch bowling in the final over to secure the result.
“England were fantastic today, I think they really took the game to us,” Haynes said afterwards.
“There were probably some good lessors for us as a group.”
With the World Cup structure being one big group and a round-robin format, every game is crucial when only the top four will advance to the knockout stage.
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