Australia cruise past Pakistan as Ellyse Perry dominates with bat and ball

Australia cruise past Pakistan as Ellyse Perry dominates with bat and ball

Australia Women star Ellyse Perry wrote another chapter in her storied career by almost single-handedly guiding her side to an 113-run win over Pakistan at the ICC Women's T20 World Cup.

Sophie Molineux won the toss and chose to bat, but things could not have got off to a worse start for Australia as Beth Mooney was dismissed for a golden duck on the first ball of the innings.

Georgia Voll and Perry got to work steadying the ship with a brisk 100-run partnership before Voll was out caught for 39 off 28 balls.

Ashleigh Gardner went for a duck, and Georgia Wareham only made five as Pakistan looked to restrict the run rate, but Perry remained the rock of the innings and eventually scored 71 runs off 48 balls with nine fours and a six.

Annabel Sutherland (27 off 18 balls) and Nicola Carey (26 off 13 balls) provided valuable cameos down the order to help Australia set an imposing total of 199/7 off their seven overs.

Sadia Iqbal (2/31), Rameen Shamim (2/34) and Nashra Sandhu (2/33) all bowled well for Pakistan, with Fatima Sana picking up the other wicket but conceding 45 runs in her four overs.

In reply, Pakistan lost Gull Feroza in the second over for just one and lost wickets at regular intervals throughout their innings, which severely stunted their momentum.

Muneeba Ali played well at the top of the lineup for her 32 off 25 balls, but when she was dismissed by Perry in the 10th over, Pakistan were reeling at 65/5.

They never managed to recover, with Iram Javed and Fatima Sana the only other batters to get into double figures as they were bowled out for a paltry 86.

Perry bowled just one over but picked up two wickets, while captain Molineux was also superb with the ball in conceding just six runs from her two overs and taking two wickets.

Sutherland also picked up a couple of wickets, and Georgia Wareham returned figures of 1/2 in her two overs, and there were also three run-outs in the innings as Australia cruised to a comfortable win.

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