Bol-ton anchors Australia victory
Vadodara, March 12: Opener Nicole Bolton scored a hundred as the Australian women’s cricket team defeated India by eight wickets in the first match of the threegame ODI series here on Monday.
Coming in to bat first, India struggled to put up a below par score of 200.
It was lower order batsman Pooja Vastrakar's half-century and wicketkeeper-batsman Sushma Verma's 41 that helped the hosts set a target of 201 for the Australian eves.
The Australians faced no such problem with the bat as they lost just two wickets in the process to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Bolton was awarded Player of the Match for her matchwinning knock. Alyssa Healy scored 38, while skipper Meg Lanning hit 33. Ellyse Perry remained unbeaten on 25.
Shikha Pandey claimed a wicket while Australian spinner finished with a fourwicket haul. The threematch series will be followed by a T20 tri-series. The third team being England.
Brief scores: India 200 in 50 overs (Vastrakar 51, Verma 41, Jonassen 4/30, Wellington 3/24) lost to Australia 202/2 in 32.1 overs (Bolton 100*, Healy 38).