Australia 83 for 1 (Healy 37, Perry 22*, Sadia 1-17) beat Pakistan 82 (Riaz 26, Gardner 4-21, Sutherland 2-15, Wareham 2-16) by nine wickets
An Australian side struck by two injuries marched to a third massive win over a depleted Pakistan team, who slumped to the lowest total of the tournament so far. The result leaves Pakistan all but out of knockout contention while Australia are now almost certain to qualify into the final four.
Pakistan were without their captain Fatima Sana, after the passing of her father, and senior seamer Diana Baig, who has not recovered from the leg injury that saw her leave the field after bowling one ball in their tournament opener, and they missed the pair’s enthusiasm and experience. Only one of their batters, Aliya Riaz, scored more than 20, while there were five scores of single figures, two ducks and no partnerships worth more than 19.
All that happened after Australia lost their quickest bowler, Tayla Vlaeminck – who was playing her first T20 World Cup match since 2018 – before she had even bowled a ball. Vlaeminck dislocated her shoulder while tumbling at short third in the first over of the game trying to cut off a boundary, and there’s a cloud over her participation in the remainder of the tournament.
Her absence did not stop Australia from making run-scoring difficult for Pakistan. They found the other six bowlers tough to get away, only scored their first boundary of the innings in the ninth over, and hit just four fours in all. Australia had struck that many by the third over of their innings. Alyssa Healy was responsible for five of them and seemed set to take Australia to victory but retired hurt in the 10th over, as she hobbled to complete a second run off Aroob Shah. Healy gingerly headed to the dressing room with a foot injury.
Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner polished off the total in 11 overs, which has taken Australia’s net run-rate up to 2.786, leaving them almost assured of a final-four place. Their last group match is against India in Sharjah on Sunday. Pakistan face New Zealand on Monday.
Schutt shoots to the top
Megan Schutt had an exceptional first two matches in Sharjah, where she established herself as the most economical bowler of the tournament so far, but was also able to take wickets on a surface that offered very little assistance. She’d have been delighted to get to more helpful conditions in Dubai and started with two testing overs as she shaped the ball away from Muneeba Ali and into Sidra Amin. Schutt was given a third over in the powerplay, where she played with her lengths, and eventually drew Sadaf Shamas into a drive and Healy was convinced Shamas had hit it. She reviewed, successfully, to give Schutt her 144th T20I wicket – which took her to the top of the overall T20I wicket-takers’ list. Schutt overtook one of the players in the opposition, Nida Dar, who had to come to the crease with Shamas’ dismissal. Pakistan were 18 for 2 after five overs and 23 for 2 at the end of six.
Awesome Ash Gardner
Pakistan were starting to rebuild – but only slightly – between the 10th and 16th over courtesy a 19-run stand between Iram Javed and Aliya Riaz though they always looked close to being separated. Gardner should have had Javed stumped on 10 when she came down the track and swung at a length delivery but Healy missed the chance.
It didn’t take too long for Gardner to get her own back. In her next over, she tossed one up and Iram could not resist going for a big one. She skied it towards deep mid-wicket where Georgia Wareham was completely unfussed by the ring of fire and took a good catch. Gardner’s final over was the innings’ penultimate and Pakistan had to go in search of runs. Off the second ball, Healy made no mistake when Tuba Hassan came down the track, swung, missed and was stumped. Aroob Shah hit Gardner’s second-last ball to Beth Mooney at mid-wicket and Nashra Sandhu was given out lbw off the last ball which turned past her inside-edge to hit her on the pad. Gardner finished with 4 for 21, her second-best figures in T20Is.
Healy, Mooney race away
Australia started their reply with eight runs off their first 11 balls, none of them boundaries. That was all they needed to see and began to cash in thereafter. Healy drove Dar through the covers to register Australia’s first boundary and the fours kept coming. Beth Mooney hit three off Sadia Iqbal’s opening over, demonstrating her strength through the offside and Healy followed up with two more off Sadaf Shamas. Australia were 36 without loss in the fifth over when Mooney hit Iqbal to Aliya Riaz on the edge of the inner ring at mid-off but the horse had bolted. They won with 54 balls remaining, and their excellent NRR means they’d have to lose by 61 or more runs against India to be displaced from No. 1.
Firdose Moonda is ESPNcricinfo’s correspondent for South Africa and women’s cricket
