Sarah Andrews (cricketer) - International Debut

International Debut

Andrews was rewarded with selection for Australia for the home series against India held in Adelaide at the end of the season. She made her debut in the one-off Test at the Adelaide Oval, and came in at No. 11 after Australia batted first. she made three from six balls before being run out as the hosts made 250. Opening the bowling with Cathryn Fitzpatrick, she took 2/29 from nine overs in the first innings. She had opener Monica Sumra caught by Karen Rolton in her second over, and then trapped the other opener Karu Jain for 21 to leave the Indians at 2/41. In the following over, without further addition to the score, Andrews took her maiden Test catch to dismiss leading Indian batsman and captain Mithali Raj from the bowling of Fitzpatrick. The Indians eventually collapsed to be all out for 93. Australia enforced the follow on and Andrews took 0/19 from 17 overs and caught Sunetra Paranjpe in the second innings as the tourists lost by an innings. After missing the first ODI, she made her debut in the second match, coming in at No. 11 and scoring four not out from seven balls in Australia's 173 all out. She then took 3/21 from six overs to help secure a 12-run win. In the next match she took 1/33 in a nine-wicket win and ended the series with four wickets at 13.50 and an economy rate of 3.33.

At the start of the 2006–07 season, Andrews made her Twenty20 international debut against New Zealand at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane, having never played in the format at domestic level. She was attacked by the opposition batsmen, ending with 1/42 from four overs in a tied match. The rest of the Australians conceded their runs at 6.18 per over. After missing the first ODI, she returned to take two wickets in each of the next three matches before going wicketless in the fifth match. She ended with six wickets at 24.50 at the relatively high economy rate of 4.59; Australia won all of the last four matches. The second ODI was a close call as Australia won by one wicket?? from the ?? ball of the match. Andrews came in upon the fall of the eighth wicket and scored two from three balls before being run out, but ?? and ?? saw Australia to victory.

Having broken into international cricket, Andrews started the 2006–07 WNCL season strongly, taking 3/18 to set up a three-wicket win over Victoria in the opening matches of the season. In the fourth match of the tournament, against Queensland, she made a tail-wagging 16 and took 3/27 from her ten overs, but was not able to defend New South Wales' meagre 9/162 as they lost by six wickets. In the sixth match, she made an unbeaten 13 help New South Wales scrape home by two wickets against Western Australia. Andrews took 13 wickets in the eight qualifying matches. New South Wales reached the finals hosted by Victoria after winning five of their eight matches. She took 0/39 from nine overs as the hosts were dismissed for 136 in the first match. New South Wales struggled in the run-chase and Andrews made 17 in the lower order before the defending champions scraped home by one wicket. In the second final, New South Wales's batsmen against struggled and Andrews made 36 to push the total to 144. She took 0/31 from ten overs as the home team reached their target with eight wickets in hand. In the deciding match, Andrews took 2/40 to help restrict Victoria to 7/205 and then made one as New South Wales took a hard-fought three-wicket win and a second consecutive WNCL title. Andrews ended the season with 15 wickets at 22.60 and an economy rate of 3.53. She was also more prominent with the bat than in the past, scoring 107 runs at 21.40.

After the end of the Australian season, Andrews was selected for the ODI team for a four-nations tournament in Chennai, India. In addition to the hosts and Australia, New Zealand and England were also participating, and each team played each other twice in round-robin phase. On dusty, slow and turning pitches conducive to spin, Andrews was overlooked for the first two matches before playing in four remaining qualifying matches. After going wicketless against England, she scored 21 not out—her only innings of the tournament—from 13 balls in the next match against New Zealand, having been promoted to No. 9. She struck three boundaries in her brief innings to help Australia to???. She then took 2/27 from five overs as Australia completed a 49-run win. After failing to take a wicket in the second match against England, she took 1/26 from five overs in the last round-robin match against India. Australia had won all four matches in which Andrews had played, but she was expensive, taking three wickets at 37.00 and registered an unfavourable economy rate of 4.82. She was left out of the final as Australia defeated New Zealand.

In July 2007, Australia hosted New Zealand in a Rose Bowl series in the middle of the southern hemisphere winter by staging the matches in the tropical northern city of Darwin. Andrews had another expensive spell in the one-off T20 international, conceding 37 from her four overs while her colleagues averaged 4.37 runs per over. However, she was on hand in the run-chase scoring one not out as Australia reached the target with one wicket in hand. She was in better form in the ODIs, taking 2/22 in a seven-wicket win in the first match. After going wicketless in the next fixture, she was promoted to No. 8 for the only time in her career in the run-chase. She made 10 from 16 balls before??? as Australia lost by ????.

she took 3/23, including five maidens in ten overs, helping to restrict New Zealand to 8/187 and setting up a six-wicket win. She took 2/34 in the next match and then scored an unbeaten 11 to help guide the Australians to a three-wicket win????xxx, taking an unassailable 3–1 series lead. She took 2/29 in a four-wicket win in the next match, ending the series with nine wickets at 15.11 and an economy rate of 3.16 and scored 31 runs at 15.50, at a strike rate of 75.61.

After going wicketless in the first two matches of the 2007–08 WNCL against South Australia, Andrews took 3/21 in the next match against Victoria to set up a seven-wicket win. She then took a wicket in each of the next two matches before claiming 2/30 and scoring 13 as New South Wales took a hard-fought two-wicket win over Queensland. She ended the eight-match season with eight wickets at 23.87 and an economy rate of 3.35 and scored 50 runs at 8.33. After winning their first seven matches, New South Wales lost the last match against Western Australia, but it was enough for them to qualify first to host the final. The decider against South Australia was abandoned due to rain and New South Wales were awarded the title for qualifying first. Interstate T20 matches were introduced and Andrews took 2/51 from a total of eight overs in two matches.

Andrews was retained for Australia's international engagements against England and New Zealand at the end of the season. She started poorly, conceding 49 runs from five wicketless overs in an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of the Australian Under-21 team in a warm-up match at Kardinia Park in Geelong. Andrews failed to take a wicket in the one-off T20 international, and then conceded 29 runs from four overs before scoring 10 runs from as many balls in the first ODI as Australia lost by ??. She was then dropped. She was recalled for the final ODI, taking 1/31 in a 41-run win, ending the series with one wicket at 60.00 at an economy rate of 4.61. In the one-off Test in Bowral, Andrews batted at No. 9 and scored six as Australia were bowled out for 154. She then took 0/24 from 11 overs as England made 244 to take a 90-run lead. In the second innings, Andrews made nine not out as Australia declared at 9/231 to set the visitors a target of 142. She then took 0/9 from four overs as Australia lost by six wickets.

The Australians then travelled to New Zealand for the Rose Bowl series held at the Bert Sutcliffe Oval in Lincoln. In the solitary T20 match, she scored 10 not out as Australia managed only 9/80 and took 0/15 from four overs in a four-wicket defeat. It was the first time in four T20 internationals that she had conceded less than 6.50 runs per over. Andrews played in four of the five ODI matches, taking 3/45 from nine overs in the final match to help set up an eight-wicket win. She ended the series with six wickets at 19.83 and a relatively high economy rate of 4.57 and also scored eight runs at 4.00.