Australia Secures a Convincing Win Over Sri Lanka in Women’s T20 World Cup 2024
Australia defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to start their Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 campaign.
Australia easily defeated the target in the fifteenth over because to Beth Mooney’s undefeated 43, despite a few nervous moments during their pursuit of 94. With their outstanding bowling performances, Megan Schutt and Sophie Molineux set the groundwork for Australia’s victory by holding Sri Lanka to a meager 93 for 7.
Key Performances and Match Results
Australia 94 for 4 (Mooney 43*, Perry 17, Sugandika 1-16) beat Sri Lanka 93 for 7 (Nilakshika 29*, Schutt 3-12, Molineux 2-20) by 6 wickets.
Match Analysis
Australia defeated Sri Lanka by six wickets to start their T20 World Cup defence. With this loss, Sri Lanka suffered their second setback in less than 48 hours, leaving their dreams of qualifying for the semi-finals in shambles. Australia scored the runs in 15 overs, limiting Sri Lanka to less than 100. However, Australia’s run-scoring pace was insufficient to overtake New Zealand on NRR, which might be critical in a pool where they have already suffered two upsets.
Even though Australia would be the first to acknowledge that they weren’t performing at their most clinically excellent level, it was still rather simple for them. Their bowlers conceded two wides and five no-balls, and on a dismal Sri Lanka scoreboard, the 13 extras were the fourth-highest contribution.
Australia would want to tighten up on this discipline because it maintains a trend in which they have given up the most extras since the beginning of the previous season.
Without getting too technical, Megan Schutt, a medium-paced bowler who finished with the best numbers among the bowlers on a ground that favored spinners, gave Australia the early lead. Spinners Ash Gardner, Sophie Molineux, and Georgia Wareham shared four wickets and bowled 12 overs at a cost of only 55 runs between them.
The only significant opposition Sri Lanka faced came from a 31-run partnership between Nilakshika Silva and Harshitha Samarawickrama at the fifth wicket, who were also the only batsmen to score more than 20. Though they fell well short of a par total, Sri Lanka tried their best to protect it at first. Despite their outstanding fielding and having Australia 35 for 3, they were unable to muster enough runs to force a draw.
Australia got off to the ideal start, dispelling any doubt that they would perform anywhere near their peak when the competition got off. The second maiden over of the tournament was bowled by Schutt, and Gardner followed with another that called into question Chamari Athapaththu’s choice to bat first.
In the third over, she got bat on ball when she hit Schutt past backward point for two. However, the over ended disastrously when Vishmi Gunaratne was declared leg before wicket on the final delivery, an error that was not reviewed. From outside off, Schutt got the ball to tail in, pinning Gunaratne on the back pad in front of the middle and leg stump. Ball tracking verified that she was fired.
Two balls later, Gardner made things worse when he defeated Athapaththu’s sweep stroke and requested a review because it appeared the on-field ruling was indicating the ball was sliding down leg. Nevertheless, Athapaththu was forced to leave for a second single-figure score to begin the World Cup after ball-tracking determined that it was hitting leg. In the fourth over, Sri Lanka was 6 for 2.
It is not the fault of Sri Lanka’s batters to try to force an outcome in their chase for runs; nonetheless, their offensive attempts were thwarted by their inability to get the ball over the boundary. The first to hit a terrible shot was Samarawickrama, who fought hard to score 23 off 35 balls. She swung at a full, wide delivery from Molineux with little conviction and popped a straightforward return catch to the bowler.
When Wareham delivered a dirty full toss that Hasini Perera swiped at, but towards Gardner, who made a nice catch over her right shoulder, she was rewarded with a gift. Hasini Perera had faced just four balls for her 2. With runs needed to secure a reasonable score in the last over, Anushka Sanjeewani attempted to overtake Schutt but instead ended up scooping the ball straight to Wareham at short fine leg.
When Sri Lanka gave up eight runs in the first three valid deliveries of Australia’s innings, they were clearly under pressure, but Udeshika Prabodhani had the ideal answer. Alyssa Healy set up for the leg-side flick when her fourth delivery was on a length and angled in, but the ball held its line and beat her entirely to reach off stump. Without giving up another run, Prabodhani ended the over, and suddenly Sri Lanka was back in the game.
The match was on the verge of an upset when Ellyse Perry was bowled and Wareham was run out in the third over. Then there was Beth Mooney, though. Taking her time ahead, Mooney—possibly the best chaser in the women’s game—found her first boundary following the powerplay when Inoshi Priyadarshani threw a full ball down leg, which Mooney paddled well for four.
When she sent Sugandika Kumari over mid-on for four, she was well into her work and the number of runs needed dropped to less than fifty. Mooney, who was unbeaten at 43, finished the innings in a responsible manner as usual. He hit the winning run in the fifteenth over.
