Australia overcomes early scare to beat Sri Lanka in the opening game of the Women’s T20 World Cup

Defending champions Australia overcame a huge scare to finally beat Sri Lanka by six wickets after pacer Megan Schutt’s probing spell set them up for a small victory target in the opening match of the Women’s T20 World Cup here on Saturday. With a paltry target of 94, Australia were 35/3 at the end of the powerplay and lost captain Alyssa Healy (4), Georgia Wareham (3) and Ellyse Perry (17) early in their run chase. But a 43-run partnership between Beth Mooney (43 not out) and Ashleigh Gardner (12) helped Australia go over the target with 34 balls remaining, reaching 94/4 in 14.2 overs.

Opting to bat, Sri Lanka were in big trouble as Nilakshika Silva top-scored with 29 and huffed and puffed up to 93 for 7.

Sri Lanka could only hit four boundaries in the entire innings. Schutt (3/12) also equaled South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail’s record of 43 wickets in all editions of the T20 World Cup. The Sri Lankans were 25/3 in the seventh over and 43/3 at half-time and never recovered.

Interestingly, the Australians also bowled 13 extra balls, including five no-balls.

This was Sri Lanka’s second defeat of the tournament after losing to Pakistan on Thursday.

Short results:

Sri Lanka: 93 for 7 in 20 overs (Nilakshika Silva 29 not out; Megan Schutt 3/12).

Australia: 94 for 4 in 14.2 overs (Beth Mooney 43 not out; Sugandika Kumari 1/16).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)