If the women’s game commanded the same attention as the men’s, King would be one of the biggest names in the country. She certainly has the game to back it up.
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The leading wicket-taker in this all-format series, King continued to mesmerise England’s batters, this time with the pink ball, which has generally favoured seamers over spinners.
King’s four wickets told only part of the story as to her impact. It did not take into account the four missed chances off her bowling, one from her own hands, or that the first of her wickets – Sophia Dunkley – ended the most substantial partnership among England’s frontline batters, and the disarray she left the visitors’ innings in.
Danni Wyatt-Hodge is a fine international batter, a veteran of 292 appearances for her country, but she was made to look like a starstruck rookie by King.
From 24 balls to King, Wyatt-Hodge managed just six runs. Scoring shots were the exception, and plays and misses the norm, in a spell where she was thoroughly worked over by King, who had the rare luxury in the white-ball dominated women’s game of two slips and a fielder in close.
Alana King after taking the wicket of England’s Nat Sciver-Brunt.Credit: Getty Images
In one over, the 43rd of the innings, Wyatt-Hodge could have wielded a bat twice as wide and still failed to find an answer to King, who landed a series of leg-breaks which drifted sharply in the air and fizzed off a well-grassed MCG pitch admittedly conducive for such bowling. South Africa’s Daryll Cullinan, Warne’s bunny, could perhaps empathise.
An appreciative crowd of 11,643, which would max out many of the boutique venues Healy’s team usually play at but is dwarfed in a stadium the size of the MCG, gave her a rousing ovation at the end of the over.
Michael Hussey, the man dubbed Mr Cricket and who shared a dressing room with Warne, is not one for hyperbole, but he was captivated by King’s performance.
“We used to call Shane Warne the King, but I tell you what Alana King is bowling like a king at the moment, or a queen, I should say,” Hussey said on the Fox Cricket broadcast. “This is amazing bowling.
“Wyatt-Hodge has a couple of options here. Does she try and hang in and survive, hoping she gets a few loose balls or does she put the pressure back on Alana King?
“You sense if she keeps on the crease and looking to defend there’ll be a ball with her name on it.”
Hussey was right. Wyatt-Hodge survived the King’s over from leg-spin heaven, but three overs later closed her face to a sharp turner and was brilliantly caught by Phoebe Litchfield, diving to her right under the lid on the off-side.
Even Nat Sciver-Brunt, who dug in for more than 3¼ hours for a fighting 51, had trouble against King. Gifted a life on 44 by Healy, who could not get low enough to get her fingers under the ball at the unfamiliar position of first slip, Sciver-Brunt was bowled soon after swiping across the line.
“When it does turn it’s not always the same amount every time,” Sciver-Brunt said of the difficulty of facing King. “Some might skid, some might turn and bounce. That makes it quite tricky when the stumps are always kept in play.”
A horrible mix-up, resulting in a run out, prevented King from completing a five-wicket haul. It was one of England’s few achievements on another dark day of the tour.
