Australia beats India with the highest successful run chase in women’s ODI cricket

VISAKHAPATNAM, India (AP) — Alyssa Healy scored 142 as Australia beat India by three wickets in the highest successful run chase in women’s one-day international cricket.

Defending champion Australia won with an over to spare under lights in dewy conditions Sunday and moved atop the standings at the Women's Cricket World Cup with wins over New Zealand, Pakistan and now India.

Australia finished on 331-7 with Ellyse Perry (47 not out) hitting the winning six off the last ball of the 49th over, in reply to India's 330 in 48.5 overs.

Healy’s 107-ball innings included 21 fours and three sixes. It was a sixth ODI hundred for the Australia skipper, her second against India and third at World Cups.

Earlier, Smriti Mandhana’s 80 runs off 66 balls provided a great start for India after Australia won the toss and opted to bowl.

Mandhana hit nine fours and three sixes. She put on 155 runs for the first wicket with Pratika Rawal, who scored 75 off 96 at the ACA-VDCA Stadium. But India lost its last six wickets for 36 runs, and its dismissal with seven balls left proved costly.

Co-host India lost its previous game to South Africa by three wickets at the same venue.

Seven-time champion Australia is unbeaten in 12 Cricket World Cup games stretching back to 2022. It next plays Bangladesh on Thursday, at the same Visakhapatnam venue.

India has a week off before it plays four-time champion England in Indore.

Healy was player of the match.

“I’m really proud of the group today," Healy said. “We have been preaching about our batting depth and this chase proves it. Full credit to our bowlers for pulling it back – we could have been chasing 360."

South Africa plays Bangladesh on Monday, also in Visakhapatnam.

Mandhana led India’s top-order revival as she and Rawal provided its best start of the tournament in the first-ever 150-plus opening stand against Australia in women’s ODIs.

Mandhana also crossed 1,000 calendar ODI runs – a first in women’s cricket. She scored 50 off 46 balls, also reaching 5,000 career runs in the quickest time (112 innings) and becoming the second Indian – and fifth overall – women's cricketer to achieve this feat.

Left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux proved expensive (3-75) but she broke through with Mandhana’s wicket. She also dismissed Harleen Deol, who scored 38 off 42 balls.

Medium pacer Annabel Sutherland took 5-40 – her first five-wicket haul. She had Rawal caught in the 31st over, before triggering the lower-order collapse.

Skipper Kaur scored 22 off 17 balls, while Jemimah Rodrigues scored 33 off 21.

Richa Ghosh provided the final flourish, with 32 off 22 but Sutherland’s late burst of wickets meant India crashed from 294-5 to 330 all out.

Healy and Phoebe Litchfield responded with an 85-run opening stand.

Litchfield scored a 39-ball 40 as Australia took advantage of a dewy outfield. Healy struck a barrage of boundaries – she hit eight fours and a six in 50 off 35 balls.

Left-arm spinner Shree Charani dismissed Litchfield, but Perry combined with Healy for 69 off 76 balls for the second wicket. Perry walked off with a hamstring issue, but returned later to guide the chase.

Two quick wickets fell but Healy ploughed on – she reached 100 off 84 balls and shared a stand of 95 off 70 balls with Ashleigh Gardner (45).

Healy was out in the 39th over and Amanjot Kaur struck twice late to cause some concern for Australia, but Perry and Kim Garth were there at the end for a stunning victory.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Australia's Ellyse Perry leaves the field retired hurt during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Australia's Ellyse Perry, left, and batting partner Kim Garth celebrate after their win in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match against India at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's Smriti Mandhana plays a shot during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur leaves the field after their loss in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match against Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur, center, leaves the field after their loss in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match against Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Australia's captain Alyssa Healy plays a shot during the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Australia's Ellyse Perry, left, and batting partner Kim Garth celebrate after their win in the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match against India at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur trains ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur trains ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

A tattoo is seen on the leg of India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur as she trains ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Australia's captain Alyssa Healy, right, speaks to former Australian cricketer and commentator Mel Jones after the coin toss ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Australia's captain Alyssa Healy, left, and India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur walk past each other after the coin toss ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

India's captain Harmanpreet Kaur, left, and Australia's captain Alyssa Healy at the coin toss ahead of the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup match between India and Australia at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, India, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.

This year's recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.

Trump said they are a group of “incredible people” who represent the “very best in American arts and culture” and that, “I know most of them and I've been a fan of all of them.”

“This is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americans,” said a tuxedo-clad Trump. "This is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Honorees ever assembled.”

Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the board.

Trump also has criticized the center's programming and its physical appearance, and has vowed to overhaul both.

The president placed around each honoree's neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.

It's a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center's image and rainbow colors. The honoree's name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree's shoulders and chest and had been used since the first honors program in 1978.

Strait, wearing a cowboy hat, was first to receive his medal. When the country singer started to take off the hat, Trump said, “If you want to leave it on, you can. I think we can get it through.” But Strait took it off.

The president said Crawford was a “great star of Broadway” for his lead role in the long-running “Phantom of the Opera.” Of Gaynor, he said, “We have the disco queen, and she was indeed, and nobody did it like Gloria Gaynor.”

Trump was effusive about his friend Stallone, calling him a “wonderful” and “spectacular” person and “one of the true, great movie stars” and "one of the great legends."

Kiss is an “incredible rock band," he said.

Songs by honorees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.

The president said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.

It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.

“These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries."

“Each of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts,” Trump said.

Trump also attended an annual State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In years past, the honorees received their medallions there but Trump moved that to the White House.

Trump said during pre-dinner remarks that the honorees are more than celebrities.

“It gives me tremendous pleasure to congratulate them once again and say thank you for your incredible career,” he said. “Thank you for gracing us with this wisdom and just genius that you have.”

Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.

The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show, and he seemed to confirm on Saturday that he would do so, predicting that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result. Presidents traditionally attend the program and sit with the honorees in the audience. None has ever served as host.

He said he looked forward to Sunday's celebration.

“It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: this will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night,” Trump said.

The president also swiped at late-night TV show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program was briefly suspended earlier this year by ABC following criticism of his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.

Kimmel and Trump are sharp critics of each other, with the president regularly deriding Kimmel's talent as a host. Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Academy Award multiple times.

Trump said he should be able to outdo Kimmel.

“I've watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,” Trump said. “If I can't beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don't think I should be president.”

President Donald Trump speaks at a Kennedy Center Honors reception for recipients Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, Kiss, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford at the State Department, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump, left, presents Sylvester Stallone with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump, left, presents Michael Crawford with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

President Donald Trump, left, presents George Strait with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - The Hall of Nations at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, file)

Kiss band member Gene Simmons speaks to members of the media at the White House, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)

President Donald Trump speaks before a concert by Andrea Bocelli in the East Room of the White House walking towards the East Room, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)