Australia crush Sri Lanka in Women’s T20 World Cup, move closer to semi-finals

Australian opener Alyssa Healy said Australia are well prepared for “low and slow” conditions after registering a stunning 10-wicket win over unbeaten Sri Lanka in their first Women’s T20 World Cup match at St George’s Park in Gkebera on Thursday. was adapted. The win sealed Australia a place in the semi-finals with three wins out of three, but Group One is still likely to be a three-way tie. Australia’s last group match is against South Africa at the same ground on Saturday night.

Healy said conditions could be very different on Saturday as he believes a fast, grassy pitch is being prepared to suit South Africa’s fast bowlers. He added, “We just try to adapt to the circumstances that we get.”

We have seen that the green fast bowlers will stay there on Saturday night so it should be a good performance for the fast bowlers. If South Africa win their last two matches and Sri Lanka recover from Thursday’s defeat to beat New Zealand in their final match, the three teams will be level on points.

Defending champions Australia, however, have an advantage on net run rate. Sri Lanka were restricted to 112 for eight on Thursday after being sent in to bat due to overcast conditions.

It never seemed nearly enough as Healy (54 not out) and Beth Mooney (56 not out) scored freely from the start of the Australian innings.

‘world class’

Grace Harris and Megan Schutt were mainly responsible for Sri Lanka’s moderate batting performance, although all of Australia’s bowlers were economical on a slow pitch. Harris ran in from mid-on and took a diving catch off Ellyse Perry to end Sri Lanka captain Chamari Athapaththu’s (16) onslaught to give Australia their first breakthrough on 30.

Sri Lanka scored 50 runs in the first seven overs but fell silent in front of Australia’s slow bowlers. Harris took two wickets in an over with her off-spinners to reduce Sri Lanka to 69 for three as they added only 19 runs in seven overs.

Schutt took four wickets in his last two overs, while wicketkeeper Healy made three stumpings. Healy and Mooney were rarely troubled as they scored runs well in excess of the required run rate.

Healy used her feet often to attack Sri Lanka’s spin bowlers and hit six fours and a six in 43 balls, while the left-handed Mooney made a poor start to his tournament with good timing and placement hitting seven fours in 53 balls. Did.

Mooney was dismissed for zero in a warm-up match against Ireland and scored zero and two runs in his first two innings in the tournament. Athapaththu said Sri Lanka was not disappointed with the result.

“They (Australia) are a world class team and world champions. We are a young team. If we play our best cricket we can beat New Zealand and play in the semi-finals,” she insisted. If Australia beat South Africa, then a win against New Zealand on Sunday will seal Sri Lanka’s place in the semi-finals.

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