Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux power Australia to T20I series win

Australia had a poor start to their chase losing Alyssa Healy and Ashleigh Gardner within the Powerplay. Beth Mooney looked relatively solid at the top of the order only to be dismissed for a run-a-ball 29.

And when captain Meg Lanning was cleaned up by Nida Dar for just 14, Australia had slipped to 62/4. But Elyse Villani and Ellyse Perry joined forces for an unbroken 42-run stand to carry Australia over the line quite comfortably, thus securing the series in their team's favour.

Pakistan's bowlers made a good fist of the defence, but there simply weren't enough runs on the board. Sana Mir, Anam Amin, Aliya Riaz and Dar all picked up a wicket each to peg back Australia's top-order. Villani, however, batted confidently to post an unbeaten 21-ball 24, and received support from Perry, who finished with 16 not out from 18 deliveries.

The duo was a bit tentative early on, but as the scent of victory grew stronger, they played a few bold shots to get Australia over the line with three full overs to spare. In the 17th over of the chase, bowled by Mir, both batters hit a six each to finish off in style.

In stark contrast to how Australia's innings panned out, Pakistan actually had a very solid start at the top of the order. Javeria Khan and Umaima Sohail added 40 runs for the second wicket after opener Nahida Khan was dismissed by Sophie Molineux for three.

Wareham, however, broke the steady partnership, sending Khan back for a fine 27. From there, wickets came thick and fast as the spin duo of Molineux and Wareham ran through the top-order. Sohail battled on to score a valiant 43 from 38 deliveries but was finally stumped off Molineux's left-arm spin, reducing Pakistan to 87/6.

Molineux, who engineered Australia's win in the first T20I with a spell of 4/14, proved too good for the Pakistan batters once again, this time returning figures 3/14 in four overs.

Megan Schutt, who had bowled well early on, got her reward in the back-end, taking two wickets to make light work of the lower order. The fast bowler's figures read 2/7 in 3.5 overs.

The third and final T20I will be played on Monday, 29 October at the same venue.