Australia women sink WI to win T20 series

SYDNEY: Australia put up yet another collective team performance to sink West Indies by nine wickets and take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Women’s Twenty20 International series on Monday.

Having elected to field, Australia’s bowlers didn’t give an inch as they reined West Indies in to 97-9 in their allotted 20 overs, before their batters ran down the target in 14.3 overs, with nine wickets in the bag, led by Healy’s 43-ball 58 not out. Barring Ellyse Perry, none of Australia’s bowlers went at over six an over, with left-arm spinner Jonassen proving to be the best of the lot, grabbing 2-19 in four overs.

West Indies’ batters had a tough time once their opening stand, worth 30 in 5.3 overs, was broken with the dismissal of Kyshona Knight for 6. Britney Cooper, who dominated that stand, was the only member of the top and middle order to show any semblance of fight, making 39 off 33 balls, but she had little by way of support from the other end.

West Indies’ miserable luck meant that even Cooper’s resistance could not last long, and it ended via a run-out at the start of the 11th over. At that point, she had made 39 of the 55 runs West Indies had strung together, with three wickets down.

Thereafter, the procession continued and soon West Indies were limping at 64-7, before some late runs from No 8 Chinelle Henry (21 not out) and No 9 Shabika Gajnabi (11) took them within touching distance of 100.

But Jonassen’s dismissal of Afy Fletcher in the last over ensured that West Indies would fall short of the mark. Along with Cooper, Henry and Gajnabi were the only batters to register double-digit scores. As was the case with West Indies, Australia’s opening stand was dominated by one batter, as wicket-keeper Healy teed away with a series of boundaries.

So much that by the time the stand was broken at the end of the Powerplay with the dismissal of Beth Mooney, the batter had made only eight of the 44 runs. With Meg Lanning also scoring steadily at the other end, captain and ‘keeper calmly added 54 runs in 8.3 overs to polish the chase.