Australia v New Zealand
Unley Oval, Adelaide: 19th – 22nd January 1979
At Unley Oval, Trish McKelvey won the toss and chose to bat, however the pace of Sharon Tredrea and Raelee Thompson, plus the handy medium pace of Western Australian Peta Cook knocked over the Kiwis for just 78 runs. The Australian pace attack was too hot for the Kiwis to handle. Now there was a game on. Was there something in the Unley wicket?
“It was not dry and flat, had something for everyone. They made a very wrong decision to bat. We were definitely going to bowl if we won the toss. Perhaps they thought they could bat as they did in Sydney. It was a game where everything we planned in team meetings came off – such a good feeling. And the team just clicked – fielders were brilliant. I think Raelee and I bowled as well as I have seen, quick, moved the ball around and with me prepared to bowl short and at them, Raelee bowling fuller. It had the desired effect, with Peta Cook being the opposite to us, medium pace swinger of the ball and they had no answer.” – Tredrea
Trish McKelvey concedes that bowling first might have been a better option:
“On reflection I think that our bowlers – if we had bowled 1st – might well have tied the Aussies down. There is no doubt that the Aus quicks bowled well and the pace was too much for us to handle.”
There was still plenty in the wicket for the New Zealand bowlers, with Susan Brown and Eileen Badham making life difficult for the Aussie openers. Peta Cook fell for 3 and Deb Martin, despite stubborn resistance for 71 minutes, made only 6, both openers falling to Brown. Tredrea protected the younger players by moving Wendy Hills up to bat at three and herself to number four. Hills (48) fell just before stumps and Raelee Thompson came in to hold the fort with her skipper. Australia were 3/81 after day one, slightly in front but with seven wickets in hand.
Day two was lost entirely due to the weather and Thompson fell early on day three. Jill Kennare showed some fight and flair with 42 runs, while some crucial runs were scored by the tail, Judy Laing (33), Sharyn Fitzsimmons (38) and Marie Lutschini (28) to help Australia to 239, a lead of 161. New Zealand’s Jackie Lord took 5-78 while Brown finished with 3-64.
New Zealand’s second innings started the same way as the first, with Bevege caught behind by Stockton off Tredrea. It started a procession of Kiwi batters as Tredrea and Thompson scythed their way through the batting in a devastating performance that saw New Zealand all out for 87, handing Australia victory by an innings and 74 runs.
New Zealand 78 (Shankland 16, Thompson 4/14, Cook 3/20, Tredrea 3/25) and 87 (Miller 32, Thompson 4/17, Tredrea 4/22) lost to Aust 239 (Hills 48, Kennare 42, Lord 5/78, Brown 3/64) by an innings and 74 runs