Women’s World Twenty20: Australia beat New Zealand – as it happened | …

A comfortable victory in the end, after Australia chose to bat first and ran up a total beyond New Zealand. Healy and Mooney did the damage, helped by New Zealand’s fielding. The Kiwis were always chasing the game despite a good outing from Suzie Bates and a couple of useful knocks from Katey Martin and Leigh Kasperek. Schutt was the best of the bowlers for Australia with 3 for 12 from three overs. Molineux and Kimmince grabbed two wickets each.

Australia are through to the World T20 semi-finals, and New Zealand will almost certainly miss out unless India find some way to fall apart against Ireland.

Here’s the match wrap, and we’ll see you for Australia’s game against India to decide who’ll top the table on the weekend.

That’s it. A very wide ball, Kerr could have left it and gathered an extra run, but she steps across outside off and cracks the ball square. Good shot but Lanning dives to her left, not worrying about her troublesome shoulder, and takes the catch.

17th over: New Zealand 118-9 (Kerr 2, Tahuhu 0) So Amelia Kerr, as we mentioned, who has an ODI double century, comes in to bat with only the No11 for company and a job ahead of her too big for most.

Schutt is applying the ice. New Zealand’s desperation is helping her. Rowe charges, aims a big drive over the off side, and misses it by about three feet. The Zing bails light up.

Useful cameo, but it’s over. Schutt’s first ball of a new spell, and Kasper slaps the cut shot straight to point.

16th over: New Zealand 115-7 (Kasperek 12, Rowe 3) Kimmince puts on the brakes, and pulls momentum back Australia’s way with a four-run over.

15th over: New Zealand 111-7 (Kasperek 10, Rowe 1) Gardner obviously feels bad about that wicket, because she gives Kasperek a ball to slash to third man for four, then bowls three wides down leg side. Three in one ball, that is. But then, from the last ball – Kasperwrecked! That was gorgeous. Gardner bowls wide of off, Kasperek drops to one knee and absolutely nails the square drive with a clean loft over point. She’s 10 from 4 balls, and another over returns 13 runs and a wicket. Since it was Bates, Australia will take that trade.

43 from 30 balls required.

And it’s over now. In strange fashion. Gardner gets an accidental wicket. The ball got stuck in her fingers, I fancy, and she dragged it way down. Bates had premeditated the charge, so she was well down the wicket. That ball pitched short of her and skidded on, hitting her on the pad. No umpire in eras past would ever have considered giving that out, but in the modern age we have a better idea of which balls are hitting the stumps, even with a couple of strides in. Healy appealed, Gardner didn’t because she just thought it was a trash ball. But it was probably out, and Umpire George fired it.

14th over: New Zealand 98-6 (Bates 48, Kasperek 1) It all rests with Bates now, as Kimmince has changed the game in that over.

Bernadine Bezuidenhout comes and goes, and Kimmince has two in the over. Wide, a slash, an edge, and a fine wide take from Healy standing up to the stumps for the keeper.

At least she did it quickly. Green, that is. No time to mess around in this situation. Gets a ball on leg stump, lifts it high to Perry running in from the rope, and she’s just as well she was well in from the rope, because Perry falls over backwards after taking the ball. Has enough space behind herself to land safely.

13th over: New Zealand 93-4 (Bates 46, Green 8) Molineux is a sharp operator. Pulls back her length when she senses she’s about to be charged. Darts it in when required, dials it back when required. Five singles from her over, vital when the opposition needs more like double that.

12th over: New Zealand 88-3 (Bates 44, Green 5) A mixed bag from Wareham this over. Drops short first ball, dross and it’s punished. Martin splits the outfielders with her pull. But then is stumped third ball of the over. Maddy Green comes out, gets a full ball on leg stump that she times beautifully through square leg for four, then Bates clears her front leg and drives inside-out over long-off for four more.

So 13 runs and a wicket from the over. NZ need 66 in 48. It’s… not impossible.

There it goes. You always feel that when a team is chasing the game, even a good partnership is likely to make a mistake at some point. A floating wide delivery from Wareham, while Martin was down the wicket looking to flay it over the off side. Missed it in the flight, and Healy was sharp when it mattered.

11th over: New Zealand 75-3 (Bates 40, Martin 20) Hello, it keeps coming. Bates versus Kimmince, slots the pull shot over midwicket, hits the gap, and bounces it just inside the rope. Charges again, gets a full toss, but the charge means she’s not in position to punish it and can only drag a single. Three others follow: eight from the over, and NZ need 79 from 54 balls.

10th over: New Zealand 67-3 (Bates 34, Martin 18) Shot! There’s some timing, the best of the day by far. Perry starts a new over a bit short, and Martin times the pants off her cut shot over point. Then shuffles forward at Perry and lumps a ball over midwicket. Less attractive, just as effective. Uses a dab to get off strike, then Bates tries to maintain the momentum by charging and swiping across the line. Ugly shot, gets a top edge, and Healy tips it over the bar for four rather than hanging onto the catch. Perry looks dismayed, had the other team’s best player on a plate there. Bates isn’t worried, charging again to loft over cover for two more runs, then a single to finish. The over goes for 16, exactly what New Zealand needed.

9th over: New Zealand 51-3 (Bates 27, Martin 9) The Kiwis just can’t get their timing on this surface. Gardner bowls an over of off-breaks for four singles. Can’t afford to have overs like that chasing this sort of score. People think T20 is whack, bang, easy, but it can be a very hard game as soon as it gets stacked against you.

8th over: New Zealand 47-3 (Bates 25, Martin 7) Delissa Kimmince with her medium-pacers will continue. Just bowling full and straight and giving little away. So Martin backs away third ball of the over to find room, and carves wide of the cover sweeper to get two. Mooney keeps another shot to two rather than four with a good dive coming round from long-on. Then Healy’s day with the gloves continues: could have been a run-out on, but she gloves the stumps before the ball reaches her.

7th over: New Zealand 40-3 (Bates 21, Martin 4) Georgia Wareham the leg-spinner comes on for Australia. Starts down leg side for more that get past Healy, and extras are second behind Bates for New Zealand with 12. The batting pair can’t get a read on Wareham, and Bates is nearly bowled to finish the over when she misses a sweep and sees it bounce off her body past her stumps.

6th over: New Zealand 31-3 (Bates 18, Martin 2) First six of the match! First ball of the over. Bates facing Molineux, just stands and delivers down the ground. Clears the rope. But Molineux bounces back with three dot balls, cramped for room, and Bates nearly lobs a catch to midwicket as she tries to get off strike.

5th over: New Zealand 23-3 (Bates 9, Martin 0) Schutt is back, Australia going for the throat. She dots up Bates, including beating the edge. Three singles from the over.

4th over: New Zealand 20-3 (Bates 9, Martin 0) Healy in in great form with the bat, but hasn’t been quite there with the gloves today. Her second fumble behind the stumps to give away some extras. Perry is the bowler. Seven from the over after a cut through point for four.

3rd over: New Zealand 13-3 (Bates 3, Martin 0) Now it’s Katey Martin to the crease to see out Molineux’s over. The Aussies are right on top.

Hypocaust can’t help them now. The skipper, a left-hander, faces Molineux’s left-arm darts coming from over the wicket. Tries the reverse, misses it, and is hit near enough to off stump. Might have been just outside the line on first viewing, but it was almost a moral lbw. Would have been hitting the stumps anyway. And guess which team has already used their only DRS review?

2nd over: New Zealand 8-2 (Bates 2, Satterthwaite 1) Ok, fine: now NZ have their two best players at the crease. Perhaps the oracle of this game, Hypocaust, has reason for them to feel soothed.

She doesn’t get going, though. Maybe a bit of seam movement from Ellyse Perry? Angled the ball in, might have jagged a touch, and Devine was half forward not not fully committed to her airy drive, so the ball sailed through her gate and into her stumps.

1st over: New Zealand 6-1 (Bates 1, Devine 0) The early breakthrough for Australia, and New Zealand’s start is slowed. Their two best batters come together at the crease though – well, Satterthwaite has a claim to that title on pure quality, but no one tops Devine for sheer damaging power when she gets going.

Megan ‘Schutter McGavin’ Schutt starts with five wides swinging down the leg side, but she’s back on target shortly after that. Inswing, a swipe across the line, and a miss. Peterson reviews, but she’s cooked here. She thinks the ball might have been high but she was crouching trying to swat across the line. So it has hit the flap of the pad, but low enough that the ball is smashing middle stump on the HawkEye reconstruction.

An explosive start from Healy, with Mooney in support, was the basis for Australia’s innings. Things slowed down a bit through the middle before Haynes picked them up again at the end. But Healy was given a life and Haynes was given two. New Zealand will have to bat better than they fielded. Kasperek and Tahuhu each got through their full overs conceding 25, while Kasperek took three wickets. All of the other bowlers got tonked.

Well, this is awkward, but Mike tells me they’ve just posted an extract of my new book on Australian cricket and sandpaper and all that stuff. So I’m encouraged to encourage you to fill in your innings break by reading it. Just pretend that someone else told you to.

20th over: Australia 153-7 (Haynes 29) And another drop! This time it’s Bates at deep midwicket. And another regulation chance. Haynes pulled it flat and very hard, but it flew straight to the fielder, who had time to get down on one knee, cup her hands, and let the ball hit them and bounce out. Just poor technique to adjust for the pace, and another life for Haynes. Devine is the bowler, and this drop comes after Haynes has already smashed her for one boundary on the same pull shot. But Kerr manages to hold another from the last ball of the innings, as Molineux walks across towards her off stump and tries to flash a cut past backward point. Intercepted.