Australia flex their muscles in crushing win over New Zealand

MATCH CENTRE AND SCORECARD

A dominant performance with bat and ball saw Australia cruise to a 97-run win over their Trans-Tasman neighbours, sending a message to their rivals as the world’s top-ranked team began their title defence with aplomb.

Ashleigh Gardner’s career-best figures of 5/12 stood out with the ball, while Alyssa Healy creamed a glorious half-century to top-score in the first innings.

Defending 173/9, two wickets in Megan Schutt’s first over set the tone for the Aussies with the ball, as both openers departed without scoring.

And the World Champions showed their quality with the ball to keep New Zealand tied down during the fielding restrictions, taking a third wicket when Darcie Brown was adjudged to have got her fingers to a catch to dismiss Bernadine Bezuidenhout (14).

Amelia Kerr’s (21) resistance was ended by Ash Gardner, and a tight run-out saw Maddy Green become the fifth wicket to fall as New Zealand’s effort began to peter out.

The White Ferns struggled to deal with the quality of Australia’s attack, with Brown taking 1/11 from her four overs and Gardner finishing with a stunning five-wicket haul, ending with 5/12 from three overs.

And the final wicket saw New Zealand bowled out with six overs remaining and still 97 runs short.

Earlier, a brilliant Healy half-century and some big middle-order hitting helped Australia reach 173/9 – a total that proved out of New Zealand’s reach.

Kiwi skipper Sophie Devine won the toss and opted to bowl first, and a stunning catch gave New Zealand a superb start, with Eden Carson’s brilliance sending Beth Mooney back for a first over duck.

However, Australia’s quality shone through in the remainder of the Powerplay, as Healy and Meg Lanning rattled up the score, with 47/1 being Australia’s highest-ever total after six overs against New Zealand in a Women’s T20 World Cup match.

Amelia Kerr and Lea Tahuhu struck to remove Lanning and Ash Gardner respectively, but a strong Australian batting line-up continued to keep the scoring rate high as the innings headed into its final third.

Healy did finally fall after reaching her half-century, with Tahuhu dismissing the opener for a 38-ball 55. And while stunning hitting late on from Ellyse Perry (40) threatened to take the game away from New Zealand, the bowlers hit back with a flurry of wickets at the death as Australia finished nine-down for 173.

And the bowlers carried on where the batters left off, running through New Zealand to send Australia to the top of Group 1.

Australia flexed their batting muscles to send a message to their title rivals first up.

Losing Beth Mooney for a two-ball duck didn’t hurt the Aussies’ mojo, with Healy and Lanning putting together a stunning 70-run partnership for the second wicket.

Lanning’s 41 came off 33 balls, but played second fiddle to Healy’s powerful 38-ball 55.

No other team in the tournament possesses the depth of quality with the bat of Australia, who had the world’s top-ranked T20I batter Tahlia McGrath coming in at number seven.

And that strength in depth helped the team keep attacking despite wickets tumbling, with Ellyse Perry smashing 40 from 22 balls and Grace Harris finding the boundary three times in her six-ball 14.

Even number eleven Darcie Brown got in on the act, finishing unbeaten on six from just two balls.

It was no mean feat to return economy figures of less than six-an-over during Australia’s first-innings onslaught, but Amelia Kerr did just that.

The talented spinner was outstanding, finishing with figures of 3/23 from her four overs.

She got set batters out too, bowling Meg Lanning for 41 to end a huge partnership, and then trapping Ellyse Perry lbw for 40 when the all-rounder was in full swing.

If New Zealand are to go all the way in this tournament then they will need Kerr to maintain this sort of world-class form.

Match Report and Talking Points: England turn on the power

A brutal batting display helped England to a comfortable victory over West Indies in the second match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 earlier on Saturday.

After Sophie Ecclestone had led the way with the ball to hold West Indies to 135/7, England made easy work of the chase, with Nat Sciver-Brunt top-scoring with a classy 40 and both Sophia Dunkley (34) and Heather Knight (32*) also impressing.