After a terrific start with the ball, the Proteas Women were found wanting with the bat against the Australian Women in their final warm-up match ahead of the start of the Women’s World Twenty20 in the West Indies.
Aussie skipper Meg Lanning led a superb recovery to her team’s innings after an early collapse to take Australia to a comfortable 46-run victory over the Proteas
‘We bowled nicely throughout, restricting them to 130. Obviously, Meg played a key role. I think we produced a good bowling and fielding performance,’ said Proteas all-rounder Sune Luus. ‘The batting let us down today and that is something we need to work out. Meg had the patience to work it around for ones and twos and she built partnerships … that is something that we have struggled with.’
South Africa were never in the chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals. Left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen grabbed three for 11 while rookie fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck and Nicola Carey grabbed two wickets each. Vlaeminck, 20, who has yet to make her T20I debut, bowled Lizelle Lee with the first ball of the innings and looked quite impressive.
‘Pretty challenging times with the bat,’ revealed Australia captain Meg Lanning after the match. ‘Initially (the pitch) was skiddy, you had to be patient, it was more than a normal T20 game. For our team, it was a very good learning curve for what we need to do. We know our batting line-up is strong and even if we lose early wickets we have people who will come and do the job for us.’
In the second match of the day, Pakistan scored 106 for seven after electing to bat. Bismah Maroof, included in the squad quite late as she was recovering after a sinus surgery, slammed 22 to show her fitness while captain Javeria Khan chipped in with 21. For Bangladesh, captain Salma Khatun and Khadiza-Tul Kubra grabbed two wickets each.
‘We won the match but we want to see what we can do better. Today I was disappointed with the way we batted,’ said Pakistan captain Javeria Khan. ‘These warm-up matches have helped us and we want to keep improving. It was good that Bismah could get some runs and bowl some overs because we lacked a player who could do that. I’ve been batting well but I should convert them to 30s 40s and 50s, stay positive and get a big score.’
‘One part of the match was good. We did not get the kind of start we were looking for. Bowling and fielding was good. Batting was not up to the mark today but we can do better and are confident going into the tournament,’ said Bangladesh coach Anju Jain. ‘Spin has been our strength and we have been doing well. The pitch was pretty good – something there for everyone. It’s a good surface to play on.’
Scores
Australia 130-4 | 20 overs
(Meg Lanning 65 not out, Rachael Haynes 29 not out, Beth Mooney 20; Shabnim Ismail 2-19).
South Africa 84-9 | 20 overs
(Chloe Tryon 14; Jess Jonassen 3-11, Tayla Vlaeminck 2-10, Nicola Carey 2-12)
Australia won by 46 runs
Pakistan 106-7 | 20 overs
(Bismah Maroof 22, Javeria Khan 21; Salma Khatun 2-19, Khadiza-Tul Kubra 2-18)
Bangladesh 98-9 | 20 overs
(Fargana Hoque 28; Bismah Maroof 2-12, Aiman Anwar 2-13, Sana Mir 2-14)
Pakistan beat Bangladesh by eight runs
Source: ICC
Photo: Ashley Allen – IDI/Getty Images
