Elysse perry

T20 World Cup: Defending champions Australia proved why they are considered the top favourite to retain the title, coming up with a dominant performance to outclass neighbours New Zealand and take control of Group A at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup here on Tuesday. In the five-team Group of Death which has India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as the other contenders for the knockout spots, Australia scored their second successive win and moved up to four points.

The six-time champions bested their antipodean neighbours in all departments of the game, winning by 60 runs to cement their spot at the top of Group A. It was the Australian top order that set up the win with an aggressive batting effort, as Alyssa Healy (26 from 20), Beth Mooney (40 from 32), Elysse Perry (30 from 24) and Phoebe Litchfield (18 from 18) did the heavy lifting to set New Zealand 149 to win in Sharjah.

And New Zealand slumped to a 60-run loss as they were blitzed by a brilliant bowling effort from the defending champions, for whom Megan Schutt returned extraordinary figures of 2/3 from her three overs, with Sophie Molineux (2/15) and Annabel Sutherland (3/21) also impressing.