ICC Womens’ T20 World Cup 2020
Australia Vs New Zealand Played at Junction Oval 2 March 2020
Australia 155/5 (Beth Mooney 60, Mag Lanning 21,Elysa Perry 21,A Gardner 20, AM Paterson 2/31) beat New Zealand 151/7 ( KJ Martin 37* ,Sophie Devine 31, ML Green 28 ,G Wareham 3/17, M Schutt 3/28) by 4 runs.
Player of The Match: G Wareham.
Aussie Girls and White Ferns produced the most thrilling contest of ICC Womens’ T20 World Cup 2020 so far. Two evenly matched teams known foes in Womens’ cricket were locked in crunch where winners take all. Girls from New Zealand after surviving Bangladesh scare only just in the previous match required a win to overtake Australian girls for a semi final date against England . Strong Australia after losing their first match came back strongly against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. In the second match of the day at Junction Oval almost packed crowd was treated with a fascinating contest. Australia put into bat through later stage surge posted a challenging score of 155/5 and appeared cruising taking at regular interval. But Cameo Katy Martin at the dying stage of the match almost won the match for the White Ferns. Australia won by 4 runs and set a date with England for a semi final. India would play South Africa in the other semifinal.
It was a do or die match for the teams. New Zealand winning the toss elected to field. Perhaps Bangladesh scare batting first and getting bundled out for 91 in the previous match would have worked in their mind for putting strong Australia batting first . It was past mid afternoon . It could be much better for New Zealand batting first and posting a challenging score for the home team as New Zealand possess a reasonably strong bowling unit. Anyway Australia had very careful but smooth start Healy for a change was removed early. On the day Beth Mooney was striking well and skipper Mag Lanning was also looking good. Mooney produced a very useful 60 in 50 deliveries with 5 fours and two towering sixes. There were few other contributions (Lanning 21, Perry 21, Gardner 20 and Haynes 19*). 155/5 on a slow track is always a competitive score.
Australia with tight bowling and sharp fielding was always in control. Skipper Sophie for a while was shepherding White Ferns Innings. But once she was gone the innings seemed to be falling apart against probing bowling of Schutt and Wareham. But a sudden quick blast of Katty Martin (37* in 18 deliveries ) almost turned the table on the Aussies . But per condition of the match Australia had run cushion and survived. It was a thrilling contest which near capacity crowd on a lovely Melbourne Afternoon enjoyed to the hearts content
BDST: 1906 HRS, MAR 02, 2020
AH
