Women’s Cricket World Cup: Australia rally from 76-7 to record comprehensive 107-run victory over Pakistan | Cricket News
Beth Mooney’s astonishing century helped Australia bounce back from a top-order collapse to beat Pakistan by 107 runs and claim their second Cricket World Cup victory.
Australia were 55-3 when Mooney came to the crease and she watched Pakistan’s spin trio of Nashra Sandhu, Rameen Shamim and Sadiq Iqbal continued to wreak havoc, reducing the defending champions to 76-7 inside 22 overs in Colombo.
But a blistering 109 from 114 balls from Mooney – her fifth ODI century – and 51 from 49 balls from No. 10 Alana King inspired a remarkable Australian fightback that saw them recover to 221-9 in 50 overs.
Pakistan’s response was not allowed to take off as sailors Kim Garth (3-14) and Megan Schutt (2-25) tore through the top order inside the powerplay before they were out for 114 in 36.3 overs.
Australia, who beat New Zealand before Saturday’s match with Sri Lanka washed out, move to the top of the Cricket World Cup standings with five points after three matches, while winless Pakistan remain rock bottom.
Mooney inspires Awesome Australia fight
Earlier, Australia capitulated against three Pakistani spinners, who picked up 6-98 from their combined 30 overs, after skipper Fatima Sana won the toss and fielded a single.
Left-arm spinner Iqbal found the go word trick once Sana introduced the spinners from the fifth over.
Captain Alyssa Healy (20) hit three boundaries but turned Iqbal straight to midwicket in the second over and Sana followed it up by taking a well-judged catch from Phoebe Litchfield’s (10) wide shot off her own bowling.
Sandhu struck with her fifth delivery when she deceived Ellyse Perry (5) and hit her, then the spinner slipped a past between Annabel Sutherland’s bat and pad to hit the stumps as Australia slipped to 59-4 in the 15th over.
Off-spinner Shamim, who remained boundaryless in his 10 overs, continued to squeeze Australia when Ash Gardner, Centurion against New Zealand, slashed an easy catch at midwicket and Diana Baig took a smart diving catch from Tahila McGrath to leave Australia in all sorts of trouble at 75-6.
Australia were in danger of a dismissal for their lowest ODI total against Pakistan, but Mooney and King stood tall and brought up a masterful century stand.
Mooney, who hit 11 fours, and King rotated the strike frequently and waited patiently to see the threat from the Pakistani spinners before cutting off Sana and Baig’s loss of pace in the death overs as the last four overs yielded 53 runs.
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