Australia Women chased down 113 against SriLanka in 15 overs. With this exceptional win, the defending champions now register their 3rd win of the campaign. Both openers Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy slammed fifties each. Earlier, Megan Schutt picked 4 wickets to trigger a batting collapse for the Asian side.
Beth Mooney got her batting back on track thanks to a mammoth partnership with Alyssa Healy that steered Australia to a 10-wicket win over Sri Lanka. The five-time champions suffocated Sri Lanka with spin to stop them from capitalizing on a fast start by Chamari Athapaththu and Harshitha Samarawickrama.
The skipper did not last much longer as Grace Harris morphed into Superwoman to take a flying catch at mid-on and dismiss Athapaththu for a run-a-ball 16. Her opening partner Samarawickrama, looked unperturbed as she continued Sri Lanka’s strong scoring intent, with Vishmi Gunaratne joining in.
But as Meg Lanning turned to back-to-back spin, Sri Lanka lost any impetus – Georgia Wareham, Harris and Alana King coughing up only six runs in three overs as Sri Lanka reached the halfway stage at 56 for one. Gunaratne survived a leg before wicket call in King’s second over, but it was not long before Samarawickrama departed.
The left-hander moved down the wicket but could not connect with a flighted-up delivery from Harris and Healy swiped off the bails to send Samarawickrama back to hutch having made 34. Oshadi Ranasinghe lasted only four balls before excitement got the better of her and she sent an easy catch to Tahlia McGrath at long on as Harris took her first World Cup wickets.
Anushka Sanjeewani joined Gunaratne at the crease and found a much-needed boundary, the first for 8.3 overs, but she was the next to be undone by the flight of the ball as Wareham added to her three wickets against Bangladesh. The death overs belonged to Schutt, first dismissing Gunaratne for 24 from 33 as she flailed at the ball and sent it to Ellyse Perry at mid-wicket in the 18th over.
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