WT20 World Cup: Aussies outclass White Ferns to go through the semi-finals

We have got our fab four for the ongoing ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.

Australia has gone through to the semi-finals of the prestigious T20 World Cup by defeating New Zealand by four runs in their last group stage match in Melbourne. The defending champions have now joined India, South Africa, and England as the fourth team to qualify for the semi-finals.

The game started with New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine winning the toss and choosing toe field first. There were a lot of questions about Ellyse Perry’s hip-injury, but she answered all the questions by playing the game with no visible difficulties. The White Ferns started well by dismissing Alyssa Healy at the score of 20 but skipper Meg Lanning and Beth Mooney gave a solid foundation to the innings.

Mooney continued her golden run in white-ball cricket and played some exquisite shots to move forward while skipper Lanning took the more aggressive role between the two and started to deal in boundaries. The skipper smashed two consecutive boundaries off Anna Peterson and let them know how she is going to play her knock.

When everyone though these two will take Australia to a big total, Peterson picked up the massive wicket Lanning in the same over and sent her back into the dressing after scoring 21 runs. Even after Lanning’s wicket, Mooney continued slaughtering the Kiwi bowlers by movie down the ground and sending the balls out of the park. In the process, she completed her half-century and with the help of Ashleigh Gardner, she took Aussies over the 100-run mark.

Both Gardner and Mooney went out under the span of two overs. Mooney played a brilliant knock of 60 off just 50 balls, including six fours and two massive sixes.

Ellyse Perry (21) and Rachel Haynes (19) played cameos at the end to take Australia to a winning total of 155 for the loss of five wickets.

Anna Peterson picked up two wickets while Leigh Kasperek and Hayley Jensen got 1-1 wickets each

Bates and Devine got the momentum and stitched a partnership for the second wicket and took their side over the 50-run mark but the wicket of Bates became the turning point of the game. After her wicket, the White Ferns continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Maddy Green and Katey Martin tried to bring their team back into the game but failed to take them over the winning line.

Amelia Kerr, Hayley Jensen, and Anna Peterson could not even touch the double digits and New Zealand ended their innings on 151, losing the game by 4 runs.

Megan Schutt and Georgia Wareham picked up 3-3 wickets each while Jess Jonassen took 1 wicket.

The Aussies will now play England or South Africa in the second semi-final on March 5.

Score:

Australia 155/5 in 20 overs (Beth Mooney 60; Anna Peterson 2-31) beat New Zealand 151/7 in 20 overs (Katey Martin 37*, Sophie Devine 31; Georgia Wareham 3-17, Megan Schutt 3-28) by 4 runs.