Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney guide Australia to crushing T20 World Cup win
Australia cruised past Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup clash after a revitalised Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy put on an unbroken stand of 113 to hand them a 10-wicket win.
Mooney finished unbeaten on 56 and Healy on 54 not out as they went past Sri Lanka’s 112-8 with 25 balls remaining at St George’s Park on Thursday, effectively sealing the defending champions’ place in the semi-finals.
Earlier, Ellyse Perry’s spectacular dismissal of Chamari Athapaththu, Megan Schutt’s four-for at the death, and the spin squeeze from Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham and Alana King had all been vital in pegging Sri Lanka back.
Harris took 2-7 as well as a superb catch to get rid of Athapaththu off Perry, playing a big part in Australia’s win after Sri Lanka had started strongly in the powerplay.
When Australia batted, there never looked any doubt about the result, with Healy reverse-slamming a short ball from Athapaththu off a free hit to reach her second fifty of the World Cup, off just 38 balls.
Then Mooney brought up her runa-ball half-century with a single towards long-off soon after – and no-one was more delighted at seeing the lefthander return to form than her opening partner.
“It was good for her to spend some time at the crease, probably more for her mental health than anything else,” player of the match Healy said of Mooney, whose previous two scores at this World Cup had been nought and two.
“She’s been hitting the ball really well in the nets and just hasn’t quite been clicking on the field. She played really well today. Hopefully, that gives her confidence maybe.”
Undefeated in the tournament like their opponents in the Group 1 fixture, Sri Lanka had started strong, but offspinning allrounder Ashleigh Gardner didn’t, after Australia opted to bowl.
Carting a combined four boundaries in the first four overs, Sri Lanka’s lefthand openers Athapaththu and Harshita Madhavi made an early statement.
Their powerplay score could have been higher than 38-1 had an airborne Harris not snaffled a superb diving catch off Perry to get rid of captain Athapaththu at mid-off in the fifth over.
Australia kept chipping away at the opposition line-up, using seven bowlers, though they appeared slightly tentative on the field at times.
A missed stumping from Healy in Wareham’s second over reprieved topscorer Madhavi when she was on 32. Three balls later, though, the veteran wicketkeeper made amends by stumping her to hand Harris her second wicket.
“She’s been around our group for a long time,” Healy said of Harris. “We play against her a lot in domestic cricket, so we know what she can do with the ball. To be able to call on her when we need to is awesome.
“There’s 15 players in this group that could step on the park and perform. We’ve got a world-class spinner in Jess Jonassen sitting on the bench at the moment and our spin attack did a great job today. So, the depth in the squad is pretty impressive.”
The second missed opportunity of the day featured Anushka Sanjeewavi being reprieved off King as Tahlia McGrath couldn’t quite swoop in on a miscued lofted drive at cover in the 16th over.
Schutt was re-introduced at the death, getting first-drop Vishmi Gunaratne caught by Perry for 24 in the 18th over and, finding an able ally in Healy, she then laughed her way to picking three cheap wickets in the 20th to finish with striking figures of 4-24.