Australia Gets Third Win in a Row
Australia remains a formidable team in the ICC 2023 Women’s
World Cup and secures its third win in the tournament. In their match against Sri Lanka on February 16, Australia won by ten wickets.
Australia is now first in group 1 standing with a net run
rate of +2.413 and six points. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka is second in the group
standings with four points and a net run rate of -0.194.
During the match, Australia won the toss and chose to bowl.
Among the bowlers, Grace Harris showed a brilliant performance and dismissed key opener Chamari Athapaththu for a run-a-ball 16.
Aside from the opening batter, Harris had stepped up to
have Samarawickrama stumped for 34 (from 40 balls) and then remove OshadiRanasinghe for a duck. Harris finished with outstanding figures of 2/7 from her three overs.
Another superb bowler was Megan Schutt. She gave standout
figures in the match with three wickets in the final over of the game,
including two in two balls. With the bowler’s four wickets in the match, it
means that no bowler in the tournament has picked up as many wickets as
Schutt’s seven.
When Australia stepped up to bat, Alyssa Healy and Beth
Mooney starred with the bat and led the team to victory. Having both scored
half-centuries, the duo easily reached the target of 113.
Healy was the first to reach 50 for the team. As a result,
she became the player with the most half-centuries at the Women’s T20 World Cups, beating Stafanie Taylor and Suzie Bates’ scores.
While Mooney only scored 4 half-centuries so far, her and
Healy’s 113-run opening stand was their third-century partnership at a T20
World Cup. It is more than any other pairing in the Women’s World Cup.
On Sri Lanka’s side, this is the team’s first loss in the tournament. While their batters were not as strong as Australia’s, they managed to reach a respectable score of 112/8. The highest score by the batters was by Harshitha Samarawickrama (34). Unfortunately, Australia’s bowlers proved too formidable as many of Sri Lanka’s ended up dismissed at single digits and ducks.
Due to the powerful display by Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney, Sri Lanker’s bowlers stood no chance.
After this match, Australia will play against South Africa on February 19. So far, South Africa has one win from two matches and sits third in group 1 standing with a net run rate of +1.550.
Sri Lanka, on the other hand, is playing against New Zealand next on February 20. New Zealand has not won any of their matches so far and sits last in the group standings with a net run rate of -4.050.
The next match for the 2023 World Cup in New Zealand and Bangladesh is on February 17. Bangladesh is currently fourth in the group standings with no wins and a net run rate of -0.720.
For this year’s World Cup, Australia is the defending champions. As the winner of the last two ICC Women’s T20 World Cups, Australia will be a tough team to knock out of the tournament.