Meg Lanning led Australian team hammered the opposition in the most obnoxious manner possible, eventually helping the women-in-yellow to top of the table after their first two games in the Group B of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
At the Providence, Guyana Stadium, the Irish women opted to bat first against a promising bowling attack of the Aussies. Playing their first game of the tournament, it was important for women-in-green to stamp their authority on the opposition; however, what followed was nothing short of a meek effort.
Cara Shillington and Cecilia Joyce started off the proceeding for Ireland and one will have to say that the duo was able to give a decent start before the mix of miscommunication and an excellent bit of effort on the field led Joyce back to the pavilion.
The misery continued for the Irish women as they were just not able to get the scoreboard ticking which eventually led wickets tumbling. From 30 for 1 to 45 for 5, the Australians were all over them. Further, the skipper Laura Delany and Kim Garth fought the rut and arrested the slide with a worthy effort of a 41-run partnership, but even that wasn’t enough to take Ireland to a respectable total that their bowlers could have made a match out of.
Interestingly, the green jersey didn’t have the best day on the field. Like the game between the arch-rivals India-Pakistan, the latter awarded 10 runs to the former for running in the danger area, Ireland emulated them with letting Aussies start off the innings being 5 for no loss with not a single ball bowled.
After posting an under par total on board, Ireland players were not able to redeem their effort on the field. Their sloppy effort gave Aussies the start they were looking for and were in a strong position in mere first five overs of the second innings.
Healy, who had begun her Women’s World T20 campaign with a dazzling 29-ball 48, followed it up with 31-ball 56 runs. The innings was laced with nine boundaries and a mighty six. Her effort helped Australia to a thumping nine-wicket win over Ireland. Later, Healy was adjudged as the Man-of-the-Match.
Brief Scores:
Ireland: 93/6 in 20 overs (Kim Garth 24; Perry 2/12)
Australia: 94/1 in 9.1 overs (Healy 56*; Kim Garth 1/17)