Women’s World T20: Healy, bowlers shine in Australia’s win over Pakistan

Australia recorded their 22nd consecutive limited-overs win against Pakistan in the second match of the ICC Women's World T20.

Australia registered a comfortable 52-run win against Pakistan in the second match of the ICC Women’s World T20 in Guyana on Saturday. Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney played vital knocks and were the joint top-scorers to help Australia post 165 for 5. In reply, they kept taking regular wickets and kept Pakistan to 113 for 8 which resulted in Australia’s 22nd consecutive limited-overs win against the Asian team.

After Australia opted to bat, Healy and Mooney added 72 brisk runs in eight overs for the opening wicket before Aliya Riaz removed the wicketkeeper batter for his first of two wickets – but not before Healy had cracked eight boundaries and one six during her 29-ball stay. Mooney too missed out on a half-century with Nashra Sandhu taking her wicket. Men Lanning also chipped in with a significant contribution of 41.

Ashleigh Gardner and Elyse Villani missed out, but a boundary off the last delivery from Ellyse Perry gave Australia a competitive total, which, as in turned, out was more than enough for them to defend. Any hopes that Pakistan had of getting off to a good start was dashed by Megan Schutt and Delissa Kimmince, who removed openers Ayesha Zafar and Nahida Khan cheaply.

The run-out of Umaima Sohail, who was looking good for her 11-ball 20, only made matters worse for Pakistan to leave them struggling at 33 for 3 at the end of Powerplay. The side was revived to some extent by Bismah Maroof and former captain Sana Mir, who added 35 runs for the eighth wicket. But the performance of the batters before them is what hurt Pakistan the most. Skipper Javeria, Nida Dhar and Aliya Riaz endured failures to trigger a collapse in the middle order which saw Pakistan being seven down for just 78.

The only noteworthy stand of the innings between Maroof and Sana, was snapped by Garder. Healy followed her impressive outing with the bat with an equally nice show with the gloves, affecting four dismissals. Mir held one end and ensured Pakistan batted out their 20 overs.

Pakistan next face arch-rivals India on Sunday, the same day Australia take on Ireland.

Brief scores: Australia 165/5 in 20 overs (Alyssa Healy 48, Beth Mooney 48; Aliya Riaz 2-25) beat Pakistan 113/8 in 20 overs (Bismah Maroof 26; Megan Schutt 2-13) by 52 runs.