Australia beat Sri Lanka by six wickets: Women’s T20 World Cup – as it happened

4d ago15.22 CEST

James Wallace

That’s it from us today, the green and gold juggernaut of Australia rolls on. Thanks for your company, the OBO will return.

The Captains Speak:

Alyssa Healy - Australia captain:

It’s a good result at the start of the tournament and we will take some confidence from that. We were decent without being perfect”

Chamari Athapaththu – Sri Lanka captain:

We played good cricket in the last two months but unfortunately we’ve lost against Pakistan and Australia. We have struggled little bit with the bat but we cannot complain about these things and we have to adjust and play positive cricket all the time. The batting unit is dependent on the first three-four batters… the rest of the batters have struggled in this competition. We have to bounce back.”

Megan Schutt is the Player of the Match

There was a bit more bounce than I thought there would be, I was pushing Midge (Alyssa Healy) for three overs in the powerplay. We probably could have been cleaner (with our fielding) so a bit of adjustment, and a bit to work on.

Moons (Beth Mooney) has lost about 16 kilos out there! We have played in hot conditions before. You have to get on with it.”

A comfortable if slightly scruffy performance from Australia who will want to tighten up in all departments for their next match. A few dropped catches in the field and far too many front foot no-balls with the ball preceded a slightly stuttering performance with the bat chasing a low total, nevertheless a win is a win.

Told you so. Beth Mooney dances down the ground and clobbers a boundary before clipping into the leg side for the winning run! She finishes unbeaten on 43 and has got Australia over the line with 34 balls remaining.

14th over: Australia 89-4 (Mooney 38, Litchfield 9) Shot! Litchfield shows off her lightning hands with a rapier drive through the covers for four.

13th over: Australia 81-4 (Mooney 37, Litchfield 2) Phoebe Litchfield joins Mooney in the middle, she sprinted out in the heat, testing the groin injury that has kept her out of recent matches. Three runs off the over, Australia inching closer to the win.

Ash Gardner won’t want to watch the replay of this dismissal – an ugly hack loops tamely up to the fielder at point.

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12th over: Australia 78-3 (Mooney 36, Gardner 12) That’ll help – no need to run for those! A full toss from Chamari Athapaththu is bunted to the fence for four by Mooney. Australia need 16 more and Beth Mooney is having an large bag of ice plonked on her head between overs.

11th over: Australia 68-3 (Mooney 27, Gardner 11) Mooney is red as a beet under the hot Sharjah sun but we’ve seen before that she’s got hidden reserves. As a fellow puce pallored person post exercise I’ve got every sympathy, dare say Mooney has more in the tank than me post five a side footy last evening.

I love the smell of deep heat in the morning.

10th over: Australia 68-3 (Mooney 27, Gardner 11) I’ll have what she’s having drinking! Ash Gardner plays the shot of the day* to the first ball after they hydration break – holding the pose on a lofted straight drive down the ground that bounces once before going over the boundary at long off. Just 26 more needed for Australia.

*In my honest opinion (IMHO) For what it’s worth (FWIW)…erm If destroyed still true? (IDST)

10th over: Australia 62-3 (Mooney 26, Gardner 6) Mooney and Gardner are now seemingly content to pick off the singles. Drinks are called for with Australia needing 32 off 60 balls. That Beth Mooney drop was a real shocker for Sri Lanka.

9th over: Australia 57-3 (Mooney 24, Gardner 3) Ranaweera is given another over after her expensive first foray with the ball. Huge DROP! Mooney flays in the air out to the deep and should have been caught but the fielder went with rock-hard hands… the ball going straight in and out again before hitting the turf. Sri Lanka can’t afford errors like that with so few runs on the board. Mooney survives.

8th over: Australia 52-3 (Mooney 20, Garnder 2) Beth Mooney decides attack is the best option and chances her arm. Shen trots down the wicket and lifts Kumari for four, narrowly avoiding the extra cover fielder who dives for the catch and misses by a fingernail. A wilder hack is sent aerial down the ground and lands safe of the back pedalling fielder. A decent over for Australia that will settle a few down, ten runs off it.

7th over: Australia 42-3 (Mooney 11, Garnder 1) Beth Mooney was involved in the Wareham run out and has been trapped down the non-striker’s end as Perry and Healy were skittled out. Priyadharshani drifts onto her pads and Mooney doesn’t miss out, paddling away to pick up a welcome boundary. 52 needed off 78 balls (seven wickets in hand)

6th over: Australia 35-3 (Mooney 5, Garnder 0) Ash Gardner joins Beth Mooney in the middle. Australia calling on their strength in depth a little too early for their own liking in Sharjah.

Hang on a minute – Ellyse Perry is bowled out! Sugandika Kumari fizzes one through quicker and Perry goes back to a ball that she should have come forward to… the extra pace and a hint of turn seeing her defences breached. The bowler gives it the big one in the celebration too – and why not!

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5th over: Australia 34-2 (Mooney 4, Perry 17) 38 year old Inoka Ranaweera came into the side for today’s game and her first over is a forgettable one that releases the pressure on Australia. She floats her first ball up and Ellyse Perry is straight onto the front foot and driving down the ground for four. The next ball is a drag down and Perry rocks back to pull away for four more, twelve in total off the over, Sri Lanka can’t afford too many more like that.

I missed this earlier – tip of the T20 cap to Megan Schutt!

4th over: Australia 22-2 (Mooney 3, Perry 6) Kavisha Dilhari is surely still on a high after that Wareham run out and is duly summoned for a bowl. It’s a tidy over of spinning all-sorts, just two singles off it as Perry and Mooney rebuild for Australia.

3rd over: Australia 20-2 (Mooney 2, Perry 5) Ellyse Perry joins Mooney in the middle, she’ll need to draw on all her experience here with her side in a spot of bother. Did I happen to mention this is her ninth T20 World Cup? She tucks into the leg side for a single and then follows up with a late glide for four to end the over. Class is permanent.

GoneGoneGone! Mooney drops into the off side and calls Wareham through for a quick single but Dilhari has other ideas, swooping in from cover to pick up quickly and release the throw on the dive, the direct hit sees Wareham out of her ground by a foot. Excellent start for Sri Lanka, Australia having a wee wobble at the start of this chase.

2nd over: Australia 14-1 (Mooney 2, Wareham 3) Inoshi Priyadharshani comes on to bowl spin from the other end, she starts with a wide down the leg side that evades the keeper too and the batters scamper a run. A slip in place for Wareham who drives for two to get herself moving.

1st over: Australia 8-1 (Mooney 1, Wareham 0) Georgia Wareham joins Beth Mooney in the middle. Sri Lanka looking to keep the pressure on the defending champions.

Bowled her! That’s the way to do it with not many runs on the board to defend. Left arm seamer Udeshika Prabodhani drags Healy forward and scuds one through the Aussie captain’s defences with a ball that held its line and knocked back the off stump. Healy playing down Bakerloo and the ball was on the Piccadilly, as someone once said somewhere.

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The players are out there, let’s play!

I’m going to quickly dash for some caffeine. Back very soon for the Australia response.

No hat-trick for Schutt as she goes for the yorker but new batter Priyadharshani digs it out to midwicket for a single. Sri Lanka scamper some desperate late runs that smack of much too little much too late and that is that. Australia will need to knock off less than a hundred runs to get their campaign under way with a win.

Two in two! Megan Schutt is on a hat-trick! Beth Mooney takin a fine tumbling catch in the deep. Wheels well and truly off for Sri Lanka.

Schutt strikes, Sanjeewani chips a simple catch to Georgia Wareham close in on the leg side.

19th over: Sri Lanka 89-5 (Silva 27, Sanjeewani 16) Sublime from Ash Gardner who finishes the penultimate over and ends with parsimonious figures of 1-14 from her four overs. One over to go, Megan Schutt is going to bowl it.

18th over: Sri Lanka 84-5 (Silva 26, Sanjeewani 13) That’s more like it! Sanjeewani has provided a real shot in the arm for the Sri Lanka run rate since arriving in the middle, she gets on the front foot and lifts Wareham over the top for a lovely boundary. Two overs to go, can they post three figures? It still won’t be enough, of that I’ll bet my non existent garden shed.