149/2 (13.2)
CR : 11.17
147/3 (20.0)
CR : 7.35
Australia Women won by 8 wickets 🏆
Player of the Match
Hayley Kristen Matthews
1/1799(74)
12.5
6
Z James to A Gardner
SIXXX!!! Gardner makes full use of the free hit. Tossed up delivery on the stumps, Gardner gets down on one knee and slog sweeps it into the leg side. Connell at deep mid wicket drops it and parries it over the ropes.
12.6
1
Z James to A Gardner
Short from James and Gardner pulls it towards deep mid wicket for a single. Just three required now.
Over 13
Australia Women 145/2
Tahlia McGrath60(32)
Ashleigh Gardner9(10)
Zaida James0-21(1.2)
13.1
0
A Fletcher to A Gardner
Short delivery outside off and Gardner cuts it straight to point. No run.
13.2
4
A Fletcher to A Gardner
Gardner takes the aerial route and takes her side across the line. Short delivery and well outside off, Gardner hangs back and lifts it over Matthews at extra covers for a boundary. No one out on the boundary to cut it off and it runs away for four. With this, Australia Women beat West Indies Women by eight wickets.
AUSW won by 8 wickets
9:43 AM IST, 3:13 PM Local Time: That's it. A solid all-around effort from the Australia Women as they beat the West Indies Women comprehensively by eight wickets to start the international home summer with a win. The bowlers did a fine job of restricting the West indies Women below 150 before their batters stepped up to chase down the total in just 13.2 overs.
Chasing 148, Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy opened the batting for Australia Women and gave their side a decent start. Mooney was looking good and scored 11 before departing in the third over. Tahlia McGrath joined her skipper at the crease and both led the charge. Both played some beautiful strokes and scored at a brisk rate. They were helped by some poor bowling and dropped chances from the West Indies Women.
Healy played some wonderful strokes and brought up her fifty in a quick time. The game was slipping away from the visitors before Healy holed out in the deep after scoring 56 off just 29 balls. She hit seven boundaries and three maximums before the 85-run stand came to an end in the 10th over.
McGrath made sure that there were no more hiccups in the chase. She brought up her fifty and remained unbeaten on 60 off just 32 balls to take her side across the line in the 14th over. Ashleigh Gardner provided the finishing touches to the chase as she remained unbeaten on 13 off 12 balls to help the Southern Stars go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series.
Earlier, the North Sydney Oval crowd was treated to a Hayley Matthews' special knock. Opening the batting for the West Indies Women, Matthews led from the front and played a brilliant knock. She was the lone fighter with the bat. Shabika Gajnabi (0) and Stafanie Taylor (10) never got going but there was no stopping Matthews from the other end as she brought up her fifty to keep the hosts at bay.
Shemaine Campbelle supported her skipper nicely from the other end but fell on 19 on the penultimate ball of the innings as Matthews was left stranded on 99. The West Indies Women finished their innings on 147/3, with Matthews remaining unbeaten on 99. Her knock comprised 12 fours and four sixes.
The Australia Women were a bit rusty in the middle phase of the first innings but bowled beautifully to pull back things. Ashleigh Gardner and Darcie Brown picked up a wicket each for the hosts. Their batters then put up a show to chase down the total in just 13.2 overs to get an early lead in the series.
Chasing 148, Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy opened the batting for Australia Women and gave their side a decent start. Mooney was looking good and scored 11 before departing in the third over. Tahlia McGrath joined her skipper at the crease and both led the charge. Both played some beautiful strokes and scored at a brisk rate. They were helped by some poor bowling and dropped chances from the West Indies Women.
Healy played some wonderful strokes and brought up her fifty in a quick time. The game was slipping away from the visitors before Healy holed out in the deep after scoring 56 off just 29 balls. She hit seven boundaries and three maximums before the 85-run stand came to an end in the 10th over.
McGrath made sure that there were no more hiccups in the chase. She brought up her fifty and remained unbeaten on 60 off just 32 balls to take her side across the line in the 14th over. Ashleigh Gardner provided the finishing touches to the chase as she remained unbeaten on 13 off 12 balls to help the Southern Stars go 1-0 up in the three-match T20I series.
Earlier, the North Sydney Oval crowd was treated to a Hayley Matthews' special knock. Opening the batting for the West Indies Women, Matthews led from the front and played a brilliant knock. She was the lone fighter with the bat. Shabika Gajnabi (0) and Stafanie Taylor (10) never got going but there was no stopping Matthews from the other end as she brought up her fifty to keep the hosts at bay.
Shemaine Campbelle supported her skipper nicely from the other end but fell on 19 on the penultimate ball of the innings as Matthews was left stranded on 99. The West Indies Women finished their innings on 147/3, with Matthews remaining unbeaten on 99. Her knock comprised 12 fours and four sixes.
The Australia Women were a bit rusty in the middle phase of the first innings but bowled beautifully to pull back things. Ashleigh Gardner and Darcie Brown picked up a wicket each for the hosts. Their batters then put up a show to chase down the total in just 13.2 overs to get an early lead in the series.
Player of the Match: Hayley Matthews
Hayley Matthews (Player of the Match): "The wicket was good to bat on. I tried to access the open spaces in the field and was lucky to score.
I ran out of gas in the later stages of the game and was left stranded on 99. We can take a lot of learnings from today. The wicket was good and we can take learnings to bowl on these types of wickets.
Australia are a top side and the girls were put under pressure. But it will be a good experience to play against them. I know the conditions here and I love playing here. Nice to see the crowd building up and it was good to play in front of them."
I ran out of gas in the later stages of the game and was left stranded on 99. We can take a lot of learnings from today. The wicket was good and we can take learnings to bowl on these types of wickets.
Australia are a top side and the girls were put under pressure. But it will be a good experience to play against them. I know the conditions here and I love playing here. Nice to see the crowd building up and it was good to play in front of them."
That brings an end to our coverage for this game. Do join us tomorrow for the second game of the series. For now, this is Akshay Bhide, signing off, on behalf of my co-commentator Anirudh Modi and scorer Bishal Mandal. Tata. Bye Bye.