Gqeberha: Australia produced a stunning performance with both bat and ball to see off Sri Lanka in Gqeberha and move clear at the top of Group 1.
The defending champions are all but certain to reach the semifinals of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 after making it three wins from three, with the margin of their 10-wicket victory over Sri Lanka also further boosting their impressive net run-rate.
Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney starred with the bat, making a chase of 113 look like a walk in the park, with each reaching half-centuries.
Australia’s experienced opening pair got their side off to a terrific start, accelerating as their partnership went on to wrap up the win with more than four overs remaining and without losing a single wicket.
Healy was the first to reach 50 and in the process became the player with the most half-centuries at Women’s T20 World Cups (7), moving clear of Stafanie Taylor and Suzie Bates.
Mooney is a bit further down the list with four to her name but the 113-run opening stand was their third century partnership at a T20 World Cup, more than any other pairing.
Earlier, Sri Lanka’s top order made a decent start after Meg Lanning had won the toss and opted to bowl first, but the brilliance of Grace Harris in the field and with the ball saw Australia take control of the first innings.
Harris’ first major action of the match was to pull off a stunning catch in the deep to remove key opener Chamari Athapaththu for a run-a-ball 16.
Harshitha Samarawickrama and Vishmi Gunarathne saw off the remainder of the Powerplay, rattling along at just under 7-an-over.
But Harris, buoyed by her brilliant piece of fielding, stepped up to have Samarawickrama stumped for 34 (from 40 balls) and then remove Oshadi Ranasinghe for a duck.
Runs dried up through the middle overs, with the spinners stifling Sri Lanka’s middle order, and Harris finishing with outstanding figures of 2/7 from her three overs.
And the pressure to accelerate saw wickets continue to fall, with Georgia Wareham dismissing Anushka Sanjeewani (8) and Megan Schutt getting in on the action to dismiss Vishmi Gunaratne (24) before bagging Ama Kanchana (4), Malsha Shehani (0) and Sugandika Kumari (4) in the final over.
Schutt finished with figures of 4/24 as Sri Lanka reached 112/8 – a total that proved far from enough.
Three wickets in the final over of the game, including two in two balls, gave Australia’s strike bowler the standout figures of the match.
And her four-fer means that no bowler in the tournament has picked up as many wickets as Schutt’s seven.
It was a clinical display and took advantage of the pressure built by Harris and the spinners.
Australia have won the last two ICC Women’s T20 World Cups, and are looking in fine form as they go in search of a hat-trick of titles in the format.
The world’s top-ranked side suffered a bit of a scare with that defeat to Ireland in the warm-up matches, but have underlined their dominance with three crunching wins to start the tournament off in style.
It’s going to take something special to stop Meg Lanning’s side, particularly if they maintain anything close to the level of quality they displayed at St George’s Park.
