Kristen Beams' tidy spell of 3 for 11 and a top-notch all-round show in the field were the main talking points as Australia Women bestrode Sri Lanka Women to register an emphatic 10-wicket victory in the one-off Twenty20 International (T20I) played at Colombo (SSC) on Tuesday (September 27).
After the bowlers ran through the heart of Sri Lanka's batting order to restrict them to a paltry 59 for 8, Beth Mooney (29 not out) and Elyse Villani (34 not out) teamed up to chase down the target in a mere 8.1 overs. Australia's resounding win is also the biggest margin of victory in Women's T20Is (in terms of balls remaining).
Both the openers started on a confident note. Villani backed her instincts to loft one over mid-on to collect a boundary in the fourth over. Mooney, too, cracked a flurry of drives as the hosts' bowling looked increasingly ragged. To cap off a bad a day for Sri Lanka Women, Mooney was dropped in the first over off Udeshika Prabodhani's bowling.
Earlier, Ellyse Perry, the 25-year-old all-rounder, made the initial incision by tempting Hasini Perera (3) to pull, but the opener could only offer a simple catch to Nicole Bolton.
Beams, who starred in the four-match One-Day International (ODI) series by picking up 13 wickets at an average of 5.92, again piled up the pressure on the opposition to bag three wickets. With tempting flight and guile, the 31-year-old legspinner dislodged Prasadani Weerakkody (7), Eshani Lokusuriyage (5) and Ama Kanchana (0) to leave Sri Lanka in dire-straits at 45 for 8.
When Beams dismissed Kanchana and Lokusuriyage off successive deliveries, she was also on a hat-trick, but Dilani Manodara survived the final ball off the 13th over to deny her the milestone.
Inoka Ranaweera and Prabodhani, however, stonewalled the Australian juggernaut to some extent and helped the hosts to cross the 50-run mark. Eventually, the hosts ended with a meagre total in their allotted 20 overs. The duo of Jess Jonassen and Erin Osborne backed up Beams by clamping down on the scoring rate and picked up a scalp each. For the home side, only Lasanthi Madushani (17) played with an an air of calmness before falling to Jonassen.
It turned out to be a successful tour for the visitors as they romped home to a 4-0 series victory in the ODI series and also became the first team to qualify for the 50-over World Cup to be held in England in June next year.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sri Lanka's think-tank need to do a lot of soul-searching as they weren't able to make their presence felt in both the shorter versions of the game.
Brief Scores: Sri Lanka Women 59/8 in 20 overs (Lasanthi Madushani 17; Kristen Beams 3-11) lost to Australia Women 63 for 0 in 8.1 overs (Ellyse Villani 34*, Beth Mooney 29*) by 10 wickets.
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