Alyssa Healy, the opening batswoman for Australia, said after their Women’s T20 World Cup encounter against previously unbeaten Sri Lanka on Thursday at Saint George’s Park in Gqeberha that Australia had done a good job of adapting to “low and sluggish” conditions. With three wins out of three, the victory all but guaranteed Australia a spot in the semifinals, but a three-way tie in Group One is still possible. At the same venue on Saturday night, Australia will play South Africa in their last group game.
Healy said conditions on Saturday could be very different as she believed a fast, grassy pitch was being prepared to suit South Africa’s fast bowlers. “We just try to adapt to the conditions we get,” she said. “We’ve seen that green seamer lingering out there for Saturday night so it should be a good showdown for the quicks.” If South Africa wins their last two matches and Sri Lanka recovers from Thursday’s mauling to defeat New Zealand in their final game three teams would have the same number of points.
Australia, the defending champion, though, has the edge in net run rate. After being brought in to bat in cloudy conditions on Thursday, Sri Lanka was limited to 112 for eight. While Healy (54 not out) and Beth Mooney (56 not out) scored freely from the beginning of the Australian innings, it never seemed like it was nearly enough. The average batting effort by Sri Lanka was mostly the fault of Grace Harris and Megan Schutt, despite the fact that all of Australia’s bowlers were efficient on a slow wicket. With the score at 30, Harris sprinted from mid-on and collected a diving catch from Ellyse Perry to end the aggressive innings of Sri Lankan skipper Chamari Athapaththu (16).
After scoring 50 runs in the first seven overs, Sri Lanka lost momentum against Australia’s slow bowlers. While Sri Lanka gained only 19 runs in the last seven overs, Harris claimed two wickets in one over with her off-spinners to reduce them to 69 for three. In her final two overs, Schutt grabbed four wickets, and wicketkeeper Healy made three stumpings. Healy and Mooney were rarely challenged because they scored at rates much in excess of the necessary run rate.
The left-handed Mooney ended a shaky start to the competition with good timing and placement, hitting seven boundaries off 53 deliveries. Healy frequently utilized her feet to Sri Lanka’s range of spin bowlers and hammered six fours and six off 43 balls. Mooney made naught and two runs in her first two tournament innings before being dismissed for nothing in a warm-up game against Ireland. Sri Lanka, according to Athapaththu, was not discouraged by the outcome.
“They (Australia) are a world-class team and world champions. We are a young team. If we play our best cricket we can beat New Zealand and play in the semi-finals,” she insisted. If Australia beat South Africa, a win against New Zealand on Sunday would guarantee a semi-final place for Sri Lanka.