AUS vs SL, Women’s T20 World Cup: Australia downs Sri Lanka to get title defence underway

Australia bettered Sri Lanka by six wickets in Sharjah on Saturday to get its Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 title defence underway on the right note.

Australia’s Sophie Molineux, centre, celebrates the wicket of Sri Lanka’s Kavisha Dilhari, with her teammates during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 match between Australia and Sri Lanka | Photo Credit: Altaf Qadri/AP

Defending champions Australia overcame a mighty scare to eventually beat Sri Lanka by six wickets after pacer Megan Schutt’s probing spell set them up for a small winning target in its Women’s T20 World Cup campaign opener here Saturday.

Set a paltry target of 94, Australia were 35/3 at the end of the Power Play, losing captain Alyssa Healy (4), Georgia Wareham (3) and Ellyse Perry (17) early in its run chase.

But, a 43-run partnership between Beth Mooney (43 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (12) helped Australia go past the target with 34 balls to spare, as they made 94/4 in 14.2 overs.

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Opting to bat, Sri Lanka struggled big time with Nilakshika Silva top-scoring with 29 not out as the team huffed and puffed their way to 93 for 7.

Sri Lanka could hit just four boundaries in the whole innings. Schutt (3/12) also equalled South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail’s record scalp of 43 wickets across all editions of the T20 World Cup. The Sri Lankans were 25/3 in the seventh over and 43/3 at the halfway stage, and they never recovered from there.

Interestingly, the Australians also bowled 13 extras, including five no-balls.

This was Sri Lanka’s second loss of the tournament, having lost to Pakistan on Thursday.

Brief Scores:

Sri Lanka: 93 for 7 in 20 overs (Nilakshika Silva 29 not out; Megan Schutt 3/12).

Australia: 94 for 4 in 14.2 overs (Beth Mooney 43 not out; Sugandika Kumari 1/16).