Dominant Australia roll over England by eight wickets

MUMBAI: England were flying high after successive wins over Australia and India in the on-going women's tri-series here. But their wings were clipped ruthlessly by their Ashes rivals when the teams met for the second time in the competition at the Brabourne Stadium on Wednesday.


With both teams guaranteed a place in Saturday's final, it was a sort of dress rehearsal, but the Aussies were in no mood to concede any ground ahead of the big day, and raced to an eight-wicket win. Skipper Meg Lanning led from the front, first pulling off a stunning catch in England's innings, and then following it up with aggressive stroke-play when she came out to bat at No. 4.

England's hopes of keeping things in check after they had reduced Australia to 12-2 in the third over, defending a meagre 96 runs, were dashed as Lanning struck five successive boundaries off spinner Danielle Hazell in the sixth over to ensure that the chase was going to be a smooth affair.

Opener

Ellyse Perry

, who was also adjudged player-of-the-match, emerged the top scorer with an unbeaten 47 while Lenning stayed unconquered on 41 off 28 balls. The going got even smoother for the Aussies as Perry smashed four boundaries in the 10th over bowled by the experienced Jenny Gunn. The over that followed, too, yielded a couple of boundaries, with both batswomen sharing the spoils.

Earlier, England never managed to find any sort of momentum and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. With a number of power-hitters in their ranks, they have believed in going all out for their strokes, and ended up paying a heavy price.

With their in-form batswomen, opener

Danielle Wyatt

(6 runs) and the No. 3 Tamsin Beaumont (17 runs) falling cheaply, they found themselves struggling throughout the 17.4 overs that they batted. Alice Davidson Richards emerged the top scorer with 24, while medium pacer

Delissa Kimmince

was the most successful bowler, taking 3/20 in four overs.

However, the highlight of Australia's fielding was the spectacular catch that Lanning produced on the fourth ball of the sixth over. Batting on 10, Natalie Sciver tried to clear the infield off medium pacer Megan Schutt with a powerful hit. But Lanning, standing at mid-off, timed her jump to perfection and held on to the ball, before tumbling to the ground. To her relief, the skipper did no damage to the right shoulder that has bothered her for some time.

Brief scores: England 96 all out in 17.4 overs (Alice Davidson Richards 24, Tamsin Beaumont 17; Delissa Kimmince 3/20) lost to Australia 97/2 in 11.3 overs (Ellyse Perry 47*, Meg Lanning 41*; Natalie Sciver 1/9) by eight wickets.