Ellyse Perry starred with both bat and ball to help Australia continue their unbeaten run at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, as her side cruised to a 113-run victory over Pakistan.
The win sees Australia put a commanding four-point gap between themselves and India, South Africa and Bangladesh, who all have a game in hand, at the top of the Group A standings.
On a warm night at Headingley, Sophie Molineux’s side were ruthless in the field, capitalising on three calamitous run outs by Pakistan’s batters to seal victory.
But questions will be asked of Australia’s performance with the bat, as Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner and Georgia Wareham all failed to make more than five runs.
Sophie Molineux was excellent with the ball in hand, taking two wickets
Perry held things together for the six-time champions, hitting nine fours and one six on her way to a big score of 71 off 48 deliveries. The 35-year-old bowled one over in the second innings and sensationally returned figures of 2-9, dismissing both Muneeba Ali and Aliya Riaz.
“I think I got a little bit lucky,” Perry said while speaking about her bowling performance. “It was fun to bowl an over. But it was just nice to consistently take wickets across that innings as a bowling group.
“Pakistan’s intent was really great and challenged us, but it was a nice finish for us.”
While Australia were impressive in the field, Perry explained her side could have been more clinical with the bat.
“We still got challenged a lot in the first innings, we lost consistent wickets at times, it was nice to keep the rate going, but it probably could have been more polished,” she added.
Australia opted to bat first, with Mooney being dismissed for a duck early on after being caught out by Gull Feroza from a Sadia Iqbal delivery.
Pakistan troubled Australia’s batters in the first innings with
Perry and Georgia Voll steadied the ship, bringing up a partnership of 100, but just as they crossed over the century mark, Voll tried to power through a short delivery from Nashra Sandhu, but couldn’t get enough power on her stroke, sending it straight to Iram Javed at long off.
Australia stuttered as Pakistan kept their foot on the gas and lost a cluster of wickets in quick succession, with Sandhu dismissing Gardner two deliveries later.
Wareham arrived in her place, but in the following over she was sent walking for only five runs off a Rameen Shamim delivery.
After losing three wickets for seven runs, Annabel Sutherland combined with Perry to add another 27 runs, before she was caught at long on by Sana, for Shamim’s second wicket of the evening.
Another cluster of wickets fell, with Perry and Molineux both falling in successive overs, with the Australian captain being removed for five runs off three deliveries. Nicola Carey (26no) and Alana King (5no), saw out the remainder of the innings.
Australia got off to a fast start in the second innings, with Voll and Garth combining to dismiss Feroza, following a mix-up between her and Muneeba Ali in the middle of the wicket.
Molineux may have struggled to score runs, but she was excellent with the ball in hand, taking the wickets of Saira Jabeen and Sandhu, who she dismissed with a stunning off-spinner.
The captain was back in the thick of the action two overs later, producing a sensational bit of fielding to stop a powerful drive from Ayesha Zafar, before firing a ball into Mooney, who stumped the Pakistan batter.
Ali looked to improve Pakistan’s run rate and attempted to smash a fast ball from Perry out to deep cover, but Gardner was there to take the catch and Pakistan’s fifth wicket. Perry had her second soon after, forcing Riaz to edge a ball off to Mooney behind the stumps.
With Pakistan 7-75, Australia sensed blood and forced another bizarre error from batters Shamim and captain Sana, with Voll and Mooney this time combining to dismiss Shamim as the group leaders surged to victory.
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