Australia faultless in Rose Bowl Trophy win
A brilliant all-round performance from Australia has ensured they retain the Rose Bowl Trophy after a dominant nine-wicket win against the New Zealand at Blacktown International Sportspark on Sunday.
After the first two matches of the three game series were washed out, it all came down to today's third and final encounter to decide who took home the trophy and the Australian's put in a near faultless performance with both bat and ball.
New Zealand skipper Suzie Bates won the toss and elected to bat, however the Australians immediately had the visitors on the back-foot with a great opening spell of bowling that they could not recover from as they were dismissed for just 125 in 39.1 overs.
Player of the Match (and Series) Julie Hunter was the early destroyer, tearing through the New Zealand top order on her way to figures of 3-31 (10 overs), as New Zealand slipped to 4-39 when Amy Satterthwaite departed in the 13th over.
New Zealand tried to counter-attack with a 31-run partnership between Elizabeth Perry (27) and Katie Perkins (33), however Aussie quick Ellyse Perry kept scoring down and took three wickets on her way to the tidy figures of 3-16 off eight overs.
In reply, Australia made light work of the target, cruising to victory in just 16.4 overs for the loss of just one wicket on the back of some brilliant batting by opener Leah Poulton (61 not out) and vice-captain Alex Blackwell (50 not out) who put on an unbeaten 104-run partnership to seal the win.
After the match Australia skipper Jodie Fields said it was a nice feeling to be able to retain the Rose Bowl Trophy.
"I guess we've been talking about trying to play the perfect game and I feel like we did that today," Fields said.
"I think every win is awesome, but particularly today to win the trophy, we were just talking that we haven't lost it (the Rose Bowl Trophy) since 1996 or something so to keep that going is awesome.
Fields was rapt with such a rounded performance and hoped that form could be carried into the final two T20s.
"Our bowling was outstanding and we followed it up with an outstanding batting effort so you can't ask for more than that," the Queenslander said.
"We were pretty keen to get the runs in under 30 overs and we did it in under 20 which was even better.
"Our confidence is up and with only two games remaining against New Zealand we'd like to keep that winning run going in these final two T20s.
"I know everyone is looking forward to playing the double-headers before the men's games and to have those on television through Channel Nine is great for women's cricket," she said.
Australia now turns their attention to securing a Women's T20 INTL Series whitewash, with two matches left to play in the five-game series, Australia leads 3-0. The remaining two T20s will be played as double-headers alongside the men's T20 INTLs on Wednesday at Sydney Olympic Park and Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
