Australia Women Seal Rose Bowl Series

Australia Women Seal Rose Bowl Series

Leah Poulton scored a half-century as Australia Women took a commanding win

©Action Images / Steven Paston

Australia Women 182-4 (Poulton 54) beat
New Zealand Women 181 (Smith 4-31) by six wickets
Second One-Day International, Brisbane
Scorecard

Australia Women retained The Rose Bowl series with a six-wicket win over New Zealand Women as they move into an unassailable 3-2 series lead in the series.

The series of Twenty20 Internationals and ODIs began back in December before the ODI leg was postponed due to the earthquake that hit Christchurch in February.

The opening ODI at the Allan Border field was abandoned due to rain but better weather greeted both sides for the second game in the series.

And Australia would dominate proceedings, first dismissing New Zealand for 181 and then confidently making their way to 182 for four to clinch victory.

New Zealand, put into bat by returning Australian captain Jodie Fields, were quickly in trouble as they lost Lucy Doolan and Suzie Bates without scoring.

Australia didn't relent and Clea Smith eventually returned figures of four for 32, Lisa Sthalekar three for 37 and Shelley Nitschke two for 24 as the White Ferns lasted 48.5 overs before being dismissed, opener Frances Mackay top scoring with 36 on her debut.

Despite losing Meg Lanning for 11, Australia made a confident start to their run chase with Nitschke (48) and Leah Poulton (54) putting on 106 for the second wicket.

Although both players, as well as Alex Blackwell, fell with the score on 122, the experience of Sthalekar (23 not out) and Jessica Cameron (37 not out) combined to take the Southern Stars over the line.

"It was obviously a good feeling to retain the Rose Bowl Trophy today, everyone’s very happy with the win and we’ve taken some good confidence out of game," Fields said.

"We wanted to play some smart, positive cricket and the plan was to get out on the field early and to get rid of some of those nerves and cobwebs and I think we showed our intent right from the start."

The final game is on 16th June.

© Cricket World 2011