Women's cricket: Australia A complete clean sweep, win 3rd ODI

MUMBAI: The Australia A Women completed a 3-0 sweep against India A Women by beating the latter by five wickets in the third One-day International here Friday.

The clash was a dead rubber as Australia A had taken an inaccessible 2-0 lead after beating the hosts in the the first two ODIS by 91 runs and four wickets respectively.

Choosing to bat, skipper Punam Raut led from the front with a 98-run knock from 123 balls as the hosts managed to put 254/8 in the allotted 50 overs.

Raut was in a class of her own as she hit 16 boundaries at the Mumbai Cricket Association's Bandra-kurla Complex facility. But, once again, she ran out of partners at the other end.

Mona Meshram (57) too played her part to perfection while wicket-keeper Sushma Verma remained unbeaten on 40 to steer the home side beyond the 250-run mark.

For the visitors, Amanda Jade Wellington returned with fine figures of 3-59. But Australian opener Georgia Redmayne

laid the foundation of the win with her 123-ball 98.

She missed a deserving hundred, but when the lefthanded batter departed, she had made sure that her side was nearly home.

Redmayne struck 10 fours during her entertaining knock.

She was ably supported by Tahil Mcgrath (62) and wicketkeeper Josephine Dooley (67) as the Aussies hammered a listless Indian attack. They overhauled the target with 5.3 overs to spare and proved their mettle in all the three games. BRIEF SCORES: India A 254/8 in 50 overs (Punam Raut 98, Mona Meshram 57, Amanda Jade Wellington 3-59) lost to Australia A 257-5 in 4.3 overs (Georgia Redmayne 98, Josephine Dooley 67, Tanushree Sarkar 2-30) by five wickets.