December 13th was Karen Rolton’s day in many ways. You know Rolton. She hates getting out without scoring at least a fifty. She was hard on herself that she made only 17 in the previous game.
She would’ve heard that conditions at Bert Sutcliffe Oval were super friendly for the batters and decided to have a go.
She seemed like she was in a hurry that day and Clark, on the other side, was happy to be a spectator for the show that day. In fact, she was glad to get something on board that day as her form was killing her throughout the tournament.
Rolton’s knock wasn’t based on neither luck nor it was a slog fest. She timed each and every single delivery, well, almost every single delivery. The shot timing and the placement was too good that one had to feel for South African bowlers. They weren’t too bad at all. It was Rolton. She made 18 deliveries to go to the boundary and when it wasn’t, Rolton and Clark found a way to run four.
They were stealing runs whenever they could and Clark, being a cricket fan herself, enjoyed being the closest spectator.
When Rolton couldn’t find boundaries, Clark did. She had seven fours in her 49*. While the pair got to 150 runs from just 123 deliveries, Rolton did the most of the damage with her 107* from 67 deliveries.
She got to her hundred in 57 deliveries which was a world-record for the fastest ODI ton by an Australian, be it men or women. Before that, Clark held the spot with 64-ball 100 against Denmark during her double-hundred in the 1997 World Cup.
The team chased down 171 runs in 25 overs. Earlier, South Africa were reduced to 169 by Mason’s three and Fitzpatrick’s two. The team definitely was a few runs short but that didn’t matter as Rolton was in her zone. It was one such day.
