Australia Dismiss New Zealand For 69 In Second T20

Australia Dismiss New Zealand For 69 In Second T20

Lisa Sthalekar scored a half-century then took three wickets as Australia thrashed New Zealand in Sydney

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Australia Women 128-5 (Sthalekar 52) beat
New Zealand Women 69 (Sthalekar 3-16) by 59 runs
Second Twenty20 International, Sydney

Australia Women's bowlers set up a convincing 59-run win in the second Twenty20 International against New Zealand Women in Sydney.

In a low-scoring match, Australia went 2-0 up in the series after scoring 128 for five from their 20 overs and then dismissing New Zealand for just 69 in reply.

Lisa Sthalekar, who had top scored with 52 in 32 balls in Australia's innings, returned figures of three for 16 as New Zealand batted for just 17.1 overs.

Julie Hunter, Sarah Coyte and Erin Osborne all took two wickets and Jess Jonassen took the other as the tourists were routed.

Katie Perkins top scored with 19 and she was the only player to reach double figures.

For Australia, Sthalekar hit four fours in her innings after Meg Lanning (27), Leah Poulton (18) and Alex Blackwell (20) had helped get the innings off to a strong start.

There were two wickets apiece from Rachel Candy and Frances Mackay.

"I think the fact that we took early wickets but we kept our foot on their throat, we didn't let them off and the fact that they only got 69 means that we're here to play and we're here to play some really good cricket so it was a credit to everyone out on the field that we didn't let anything go," Sthalekar said.

"It’s really important that we keep this momentum going, these three games in a row tests our bodies but we're on a high at the moment but I know New Zealand will regroup, they're senior players I'm sure will come back and be even stronger.

"We've got to play a little bit better and there's probably things that we can still work on," she added.

The third game is on 22nd January.

© Cricket World 2012