A clinical century from Georgia Voll has propelled Australia to One Day International victory over India in Hobart on Friday and ahead in the multi-format series.
Voll played a masterful innings of 101 from 82 deliveries, highlighted by 13 fours and one towering six over long on.
The only streaky part of the innings came around her milestone, as she reached three figures via a dropped catch and was out just two balls later.
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“Not the way you hope your 100 will come up, but you’ll still take it,” Mel Jones told Fox Cricket, after India keeper Richa Ghosh fumbled a catch, a Voll ran for single — with initial confusion over whether it would be given as byes or a run.
“A stunning century from Georgia Voll.”
Voll shared a match-defining 119-run partnership from 94 balls with slick southpaw Phoebe Litchfield.
Litchfield hit a highlight-heavy 80 off 62 balls but missed out on her first century on Aussie shores when she was bowled attempting a ramp shot.
The contributions of Voll, Litchfield and Beth Mooney (31) ensured Australia completed the series-shaping chase of 252 by five wickets.
Ash Gardner (19 not out) hit the winning runs having earlier swung the match with the ball in the absence of an injured Sophie Molineux.
Molineux – the newly-appointed Aussie captain – will be sidelined for the rest of the series with a back issue.
Indian openers Smriti Mandhana and Pratika Rawal made the most of their early chances before Gardner finally broke through.
Annabel Sutherland took the second wicket and then secured a run out but it was Gardner and Alana King who put the tourists under pressure.
Gardner had figures of 1-20 off her first seven overs (including 28 dot balls) while King claimed 2-41 off her 10 overs.
The leggie’s tidy figures still didn’t do her spell justice after two chances were dropped and a tight LBW decision went India’s way.
Gardner took over from King at the River End and carried on where she left off, finishing with 2-39 off her 10.
Harmanpreet Kaur (54 off 70) had battled for nearly 20 overs with just one boundary before she and Kashvee Gautam combined for an important partnership.
The pair advanced India to 217 with 26 balls left in the innings but they were again separated by the class of Gardner.
Australia now leads the series ahead of the third ODI on Sunday before the one-off Test match in Perth next week.