Women's T20 World Cup 2020: Allysa Healy, Beth Mooney star as Australia roll over Bangladesh

Scorecard:

Australia: 189-1 (20 overs)

Allysa Healy 83(53), Beth Mooney 81(58); Salma Khatun 1/39

Bangladesh: 103-9 (20 overs)

Fargana Hoque 36(35), Nigar Sultana 19(35); Megan Schutt 3/21

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Australia brought their A-game to the table as openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney took the attack to the opposition and helped Australia beat Bangladesh by 86 runs, setting up a virtual quarterfinal with New Zealand.

Chasing a massive target of 190 to win, Bangladesh did not get to the best of starts. They kept on losing wickets at regular intervals and no partnership lasted too long. All the Australian bowlers bowled great line and lengths and Megan Schutt was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/21. Fargana Hoque's fighting 36 had no support from the other end as Bangladesh only managed to reach 103-9 in their 20 overs.

Earlier, Australia opted to bat first and intended to put runs on the board. Openers Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney took time inititally but then began to hit the Bangladesh bowlers to all parts of the ground. They put together a huge stand of 151 for the first wicket with both the batters reaching their 80s. Ashleigh Gardner played an excellent cameo of 22 off just 9 balls including three fours and a six and helped Australia post a huge 189-1 in their 20 overs.

Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney set up record stand

1️⃣5️⃣1️⃣The stand between Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney was Australia's highest-ever in T20Is, beating the 147* put on by Kate Blackwell and Karen Rolton all the way back in 2005 👏#AUSvBAN | #T20WorldCupSCORE 📝 https://t.co/ZSMgugy5NL pic.twitter.com/Jnu9v0k6Ku

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) February 27, 2020

Alyssa Healy was under pressure coming into this game as leaving the half century against India, she was going through a horror run of form. However, she seemed to have pushed all the sdemons aside as she began to time the ball beautifully. Beth Mooney too began to attack the Bangladesh bowlers and runs began to flow from both ends.

Also see – Women’s Cricket world cup winners list

Managing to keep the run-rate above 9 per over, the duo added 151 runs for the first wicket, which is a record for the highest opening stand for Australia in T20Is. Healy scored 83 off 53 balls including 10 fours and 3 sixes while Mooney scored an unbeaten 81 off 58 balls with 9 fours.

Megan Schutt with other bowlers restricted Bangladesh to just 103

THREE WICKETS IN THREE BALLS FOR AUSTRALIA!#AUSvBAN | #T20WorldCupSCORE 📝 https://t.co/oJdQ8eXs0g pic.twitter.com/lZoMkF6crm

— T20 World Cup (@T20WorldCup) February 27, 2020

Bangladesh needed a good start and Shamima Sultana seemed to have provided it with three boundaries. however, she was cleaned up by the experienced Megan Schutt. What's more, Schutt also got the wicket of fellow opener Murshida Khatun and put Bangladesh further behind in the game. Fargana Hoque later in the innings tried to accelerate after she had got a good start.

But coming back into the attack, Schutt claimed her wicket too and ended with impressive figures of 3/21. All the Australian bowlers did their job extremely well and also ended up taking a team hat-trick. These efforts meant that they won by a huge margin of 86 runs.

Alyssa Healy played an absolutely fantastic innings and also broke a number of records like the most number of runs by a wicket-keeper in T20 World Cups, the highest score by a wicket-keeper in T20 World Cups, etc. She also picked up two wickets due to which she was adjudged the player of the match.

Here were her thoughts after the game,

"That's something we identified and worked on especially (hitting straight against spinners )in the powerplay and the plan worked today. The sub-continent teams are trying to bowl as slow and we have practised a lot in the nets yesterday."

"Tonight with the breeze we have identified the short boundaries and Beth and I worked out which areas to target. Not easy to field under lights and we have done okay today."