Thursday, June 23, 2011

NatWest Women's T20 Quadrangular Series in England: Australia beat India by 8 wickets


Australia registered a thumping eight-wicket victory over India in the first match of the NatWest Women's T20 Quadrangular Series at Toby Howe Cricket Ground, Billericay to begin the series on a winning note. 
The tournament that also involves England and New Zealand pits the four nations together in a T20, followed by an ODI, series in a bid to earn the No. 1 position in women’s cricket.
Opting to field first in the series opener, Australia bowled India for 62 in 18.2 overs.
Pacer Clea Smith set the ball rolling, sending back openers Poonam Raut and Anagha Deshpande early.  Sarah Coyte then followed with the key wicket of Mithali Raj. It was all downhill from there for India. Batting at No. 4, Harmanpreet Kaur tried to salvage the innings with 41 runs off 49 balls with three boundaries and two sixes. The rest of the batting line-up failed to even make five runs each. The second highest score, six runs, came in the form of extras. As many as four batsmen were out for zero.
Giving away only five runs in four overs and claiming four wickets, Coyte was the pick of the bowlers for Australia.   
Chasing 63 runs to win, Australia reached their target comfortably for the loss of two wickets.  Australian opener Leah Poultan remained unbeaten on 31 runs and along with Meg Lanning (23 runs) helped Australia reach their target in just 10.2 overs.
Brief scores: India  62 all out in 18.2 overs (Harmanpreet Kaur 41, Sarah Coyte 4/5, S Nitschke 2/10, C Smith 2/ 16) lost to Australia 63/2 in 10.2 overs (Leah Poultan 31*, Meg Lanning 23) by 8 wickets




On the other hand, England Women made it two one-sided matches on the opening day of the quadrangular series with a comfortable eight-wicket victory over New Zealand Women at Chelmsford.


England's spinners proved a key weapon, as Holly Colvin and Laura Marsh shared five wickets, while Aaron Brindle marked her return to international cricket with 3 for 11. Needing barely four-an-over for victory England had few problems during their chase as captain Charlotte Edwards led the way with an unbeaten 40.


Brief scores: England Women 86 for 2 (Edwards 40*) beat New Zealand 83 (Colvin 3-17) by eight wickets

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