‘Disbelief’: Inside the heroic knock that revived Australia’s World Cup quest

There was utter disbelief in the Australian dugout on Wednesday evening.

The mighty Aussies, the defending champions, were reeling at 7-76 during the World Cup contest against Pakistan, a nation they had never lost to in any format.

They were staring down the barrel of a humiliating defeat.

“It was quite sombre to say the least,” Australian leg-spinner Alana King recalled while speaking to Fox Cricket.

“There was a little bit of disbelief in what’s actually happening in front of our eyes.”

During the chaotic collapse of 7-46, multiple of Australia’s superstar batters had fallen victim to ill-judged lofted drives, with captain Alyssa Healy and all-rounder Ash Gardner each gifting their wicket away with soft dismissals.

“I think the most disappointing thing was just that there were a few of the same dismissals, to be honest,” King confessed.

“It was a little bit sombre for quite some time.”

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The Australians had recovered, somewhat, to 8-115 when King walked out to bat at No. 10 in the 34th over, joining the experienced Beth Mooney in the middle. On a slow, low turner, the unlikely duo knuckled down and added 106, the highest ninth-wicket stand in women’s ODI history, steering their side towards 9-221.

King finished unbeaten on 51, a career-best knock that featured three sixes, becoming the first No. 10 to notch a half-century in women’s ODI. Australia ultimately won the match by 107 runs.

“It was a tricky situation to go into, no doubt,” King continued.

“To put on a partnership like that and to get us into a really good position for the first half of the game is something that I’m pretty proud of and pumped about.

“To have the chance to bat as long as I did and put on a pretty important partnership, I think that’s something that I’ll draw confidence on, knowing that I can do that job if the team requires me to do it.”

At the other end, Mooney celebrated her fifth ODI hundred, hitting a 114-ball 109, her highest World Cup score. Considering the circumstances, King believes it was one of the best performances of Mooney’s illustrious career.

“She’s unfortunately had to dig Australia out of situations like this before,” King said of the Mooney.

“Just the experience and calmness that she brings, she was really clear with me on what we needed to get done … she’s so clinical in the way she plays.

“That’s been described as one of her best in her career. I can second that.”

With three overs to go, Mooney gave her teammate the green light to switch gears and attack Pakistan’s seamers after they were reintroduced to the attack – and King dutifully went on a rampage, finishing her innings with 6, 4, 1, 1, 6, 6 and 1.

“It was, as I call it, party time at the end, which is what I love to do,” King smiled.

“As soon as the spinners were off and the quicks came back on, it just suited us a bit more to be a bit more aggressive.

“I don’t think we played too many rash shots. We just picked our balls and started accelerating from there.”

King has for many years been a capable lower-order pinch-hitter, but Australian fast bowling coach Scott Prestwidge helped develop her power-hitting heading into the World Cup campaign.

A proud Prestwidge watched from the dugout as their training paid dividends during the high-stakes contest.

“The last couple of weeks we have been trying to unlock my swing again and making sure that I’m getting into a good position,” King said.

“He’s thrown me hundreds of balls just to make sure that I’m feeling good. I’ve got a lot to thank him for in recent times.

“He was pretty pumped when a few came out of the screws. It was almost like a proud dad moment, as some of the girls were describing it.”

Australia’s starting XI is packed with all-rounders, so while some would argue King deserves a promotion in the batting order, the Perth Scorchers star is happy to fulfil whatever role is asked of her.

“That’s the beauty of our team, we’re blessed with such amazing talent and our batting line-up goes all the way to 11,” King said.

“No need for a promotion just yet. I’m happy to play my role, whatever it is.

“If I need to come up or if I come into a situation like I did the other day, I’m more than happy to try and contribute that way.

“But for now, I’ll let the batters do their job and I’m happy to rip a couple when given a chance.”

King is, of course, first and foremost a bowler – since the previous World Cup in New Zealand in 2022, the West Australian has taken 48 ODI wickets at 17.83. Only Gardner boasts more scalps during that period.

Earlier this year, King was named player of the Women’s Ashes after taking 23 wickets at 11.17 across the multi-series, helping the Australians seal a historic 16-0 whitewash over England.

Although the 29-year-old benefited from a turning deck in Colombo, India’s batter-friendly surfaces have provided minimal assistance for Australia’s tweaks.

“It’s going to be tricky bowling in these conditions,” King said.

“Everyone has a preconceived idea that India is going to spin, they’re going to rag, but if the bilateral series (against India) was anything to go by, they were pretty flat and didn’t offer a lot to bowlers, spin bowlers especially.

“We try to adapt as quickly as we can, especially during the game; you don’t know if it’s going to spin or if it’s going to slide on until you’re on the pitch.

“We’ve just got to be really adaptable on the fly. If there’s spin it’s great, if there’s no spin that’s fine, just got to keep challenging the batters in different ways.”

The Australians are yet to produce a perfect game in the World Cup – they stumbled towards 5-128 in their World Cup opener against trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand before last week’s contest against Sri Lanka was abandoned due to weather. The heroics of Mooney and King then prevented an embarrassing loss against Pakistan.

And despite being far from their best, the Australians have still won both of their matches by comfortable margins.

“We know we haven’t played our best cricket,” King confessed.

“It’s a World Cup, no games come easy.

“These conditions are going to test teams in all facets of the game, but we know we’ve got to be switched on and take our opportunities when we can.

“We haven’t played our best cricket yet, and yet we’re winning, but we need to make sure that we reset every game, learn from our mistakes and keep looking at the positives.”

Australia’s next challenge will be facing tournament hosts India in Visakhapatnam on Sunday evening, with the first ball scheduled for 8.30pm AEDT. Having suffered their heaviest defeat in ODI history against Harmanpreet Kaur’s side last month, the Australians are fully aware of the threat India poses.

“They’ve just come off a big loss – South Africa ripped that from straight under them – so they’ll no doubt be wanting to put their best foot forward against us,” King said.

“There’s always a good rivalry between India. They’ve got the home crowd on their side as well so you can expect it to be really loud, really noisy and a sea of blue – with hopefully a few yellow shirts.”

Sunday’s match is also a sellout, with fans purchasing 15,087 tickets for the group-stage contest.

“I might have to take some earplugs; the fans are quite loud over here,” King laughed.

“It’s going to be a great spectacle … the atmosphere is going to be absolutely electric.”

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