Australia beats Sri Lanka by 6 wickets

SHARJAH: Defending champion Australia overcame a mighty scare to eventually beat Sri Lanka by six wickets after pacer Megan Schutt’s probing spell set it up for a small winning target in the women’s T20 World Cup campaign opener here Saturday.

Set a paltry target of 94, Australia was 35/3 at the end of 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 it made 94/4 in 14.2 overs.

Opting to bat, Sri Lanka struggled big time with Nilakshika Silva top-scoring with 29 not out as it huffed and puffed its 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 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 93/7 in 20 overs (Nilakshika Silva 29*; Megan Schutt 3/12) lost to Australia 94/4 in 14.2 overs (Beth Mooney 43 not out; Sugandika Kumari 1/16)