WOMEN’S WORLD T20: Australia brush aside Pakistan

PROVIDENCE, Guyana: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning missed out on fifties, but their useful knocks were backed up by strong bowling as Australia opened their ICC Women’s World T20 2018 campaign with a 52-run win against Pakistan.

Batting first after winning the toss in the second match at the Guyana National Stadium on Friday, Australia raced away to a strong start, with the first-wicket duo of Healy and Mooney adding 72 off 7.6 overs.

Healy was on her way to a brisk fifty when she became Aliya Riaz’s first victim of the day, departing for a 29-ball 48.

Meg Lanning and Mooney kept the scoreboard ticking, but neither batter could go on to make it a big one, as they fell in their 40s. Yet, the 165-5 was a strong total.

With youngster Umaima Sohail playing a fearless game, Pakistan looked like they might make a fight of it, but her run-out for 20 off 11 balls opened the floodgates.

Spinners Georgia Wareham and Ash Gardner got some significant turn and wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy was in the thick of things, playing a part in four dismissals as Pakistan collapsed from 64-3 to 78-7, before finishing on 113-8.

Bismah Mahroof (26), Umaima Sohail (20) and Sana Mir (20 not out) were Pakistan’s main scorers.

Player of the Match, Healy said: “I think if we’re honest, we probably left a few (runs) out there. I think they bowled really well in the middle period and sort of shut us down a little bit.

“In saying that, chasing 160, 170 on that wicket was never going to be easy. So I think batting lineup did a really good job in the end, but I think moving forward we’ll look to push 180.”

Pakistan’s Nida Dar said: “(Having lost one match) we still have an opportunity. This wicket is very slow and this kind of wicket is just like (what we have) in Pakistan. So we have a great opportunity for next matches, for next three matches.”

Pakistan next take on India on Sunday (today) while Australia face Ireland in the second match on the same day.

Earlier, Harmanpreet Kaur set the opening day of the tournament on fire with her highest T20I score, 103 off just 51 balls.

The knock powered India to a 34-run win against New Zealand, and gave the tournament a flying start.

India scored the highest ever total in an ICC Women’s World T20 match, their mark of 194-5 eclipsing the previous total of 191-4 set by Australia in 2014.

Besides Harmanpreet, Jemimah Rodrigues scored a quick 59, combining with Harmanpreet for a fourth wicket partnership of 134, the highest for any wicket for India in this format.

Battling stomach cramps, Harmanpreet hit eight sixes in her innings, scoring her second fifty runs off just 16 balls.

Suzie Bates scored a half century in reply, opening the batting for New Zealand. In the process, she became the highest scorer in women’s World T20s (787 runs), surpassing Charlotte Edwards’s tally of 768. Her efforts were not enough though; New Zealand managed only 160 for nine in their twenty overs.

Defending champions West Indies were given a bit of a scare by Asian champions Bangladesh in the last match of the night, when they were restricted to just 106 for eight in their 20 overs.

Bangladesh became the third team on the day to use four spinners and just one pacer, the other two being their Asian neighbours.

Riding on early blows by medium pacer Jahanara Alam (3-23), the spinners took four wickets between them to tie down the Windies batters.

The Windies responded by bowling Bangladesh out for the lowest score in World T20s, 46 in 14.4 overs, with seven wickets shared by the fast bowlers.

Five of those went to Deandra Dottin, who claimed figures of five for five, the cheapest five wicket haul in T20Is and best figures in ICC Women’s World T20s. Four of Dottin’s victims were bowled, and no Bangladesh batter got into double figures.

Scores in brief: Australia beat Pakistan by 52 runs: Australia 165-5 in 20 overs (Alyssa Healy 48, Beth Mooney 48, Meg Lanning 41; Aliya Riaz 2-25, Nashra Sandhu 2-43). Pakistan 113-8 in 20 overs (Bismah Mahroof 26, Umaima Sohail 20, Sana Mir 20 not out; Megan Schutt 2-13, Georgia Wareham 2-18).

India beat New Zealand by 34 runs: India 194-5 in 20 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 103, Jemima Rodrigues 59; Lea Tahuhu 2-18). New Zealand 160-9 in 20 overs (Suzie Bates 67, Katie Martin 39; Dayalan Hemalatha 3-26, Poonam Yadav 3-33, Radha Yadav 2-31).

West Indies beat Bangladesh by 60 runs: West Indies 106-8 in 20 overs (Kycia Knight 32, Stafanie Taylor 29; Jahanara Alam 3-23, Rumana Ahmed 2-16). Bangladesh 46 all out in 14.4 overs (Fargana Hoque 8; Deandra Dottin 5-5, Shakera Selman 2-12).