Australia Women defeated India Women by five wickets in the first ODI of the three-match series. Megan Schutt was the star of the day for the hosts as she picked up five wickets for just 19 runs in 6.2 overs to skittle the visitors for just 100 runs. The chase wasn’t straightforward though for the Aussies as they too lost five wickets before reaching the target in just 16.2 overs.
It was a pretty one-sided encounter with India never arriving after opting to bat first. The new opening pair of Smriti Mandhana and Priya Punia was back in the hut within the first seven overs as Schutt got the better of both the batters. All four middle-order batters – Harleen Deol, Harmanpreet Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues and Richa Ghosh – got starts but none of them crossed the 23-run mark.
There was no respite for India even in the middle overs as Australia’s bowlers kept chipping away at the wickets. The women in blue didn’t even put up a fight with the bat as they collapsed from 89/4 to 100 all out losing the last three wickets without adding a single run.
It was all Schutt with the ball as she dismissed openers in her first spell and then returned to send back the lower middle-order batters. India could only muster 100 runs after batting for 34.2 overs.
Australia were expected to canter to the target and they did so in just 16.2 overs. But they ended up losing five wickets with Renuka Thakur making the batters dance to her tunes with three wickets. She dismissed Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry and Beth Mooney in the space of seven deliveries to reduce Australia from 48/0 to 52/3.
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Priya Mishra, the legspinner, got into her act then to send back Annabel Sutherland and Ash Gardner. Australia being five down for 97 runs is a rare sight but the target was too low that they were never under pressure. The home team chased down the target easily with debutant opener Georgia Voll remaining unbeaten on 46 runs.
