The Australian women have begun their ICC Women’s World Cup campaign with a close win from the opposition. The defending champions face arch-rivals England in the second match of the tournament taking place in New Zealand.
Winning the toss, the English women forced the kangaroos to take the bat first. Left-hand and right-hand batters Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy opened the batting for Australia. At 35 runs, Healy was sent back to the Pavillion and when skipper Leg Manning took her spot, things really began to set off for the Aussies.
A 196 runs partnership between the two lit up the scoreboard for the former champions and the team managed to put 310-3. For England, Nat Sciver shined in both the innings. She took two crucial wickets to put brakes on the Australian inning and when it was her turn to bat, she hit a gutsy 109 off 85 balls but all went in vain as the Women in blue fell short of just 12 runs.
For England, Beaumont and Knight’s 92 run partnership put hope for their side and Sciver’s hundred further gave them a boost but a terrific Australian bowling attack kept the English players in place and the women in yellow proved too good for them in the end.
The tournament will witness a high-voltage clash between India and Pakistan tomorrow from Bay Oval Tauranga.
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