Live: Defending champions Australia start well against Sri Lanka
Alyssa Healy’s Australia meet Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lanka in Match 5 of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 on October 5.
Toss: Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first
Australia’s bowlers tied Sri Lanka down in the powerplay, removing both openers cheaply and stifling the run rate.
Vishmi Gunaratne was the first to go, trapped in front by Megan Schutt after a struggle of an innings, departing for 0 (10).
And Australia bagged the key wicket of captain and star player Chamari Athapaththu when Ashleigh Gardner had the all-rounder out lbw for just 3.
Sri Lanka looked to rebuild, but reached just 23/2 at the end of the first six overs.
Schutt, Gardner strike to send back openers early | WT20WC 2024
Six-time Women’s T20 World Cup champions Australia take on Sri Lanka in Sharjah in the first game of double-header Saturday.
Having won both warm-up fixtures and the preceding series against New Zealand, Australia are in perfect shape going into the tournament. Up against them are Sri Lanka, who will be smarting from their opening loss to Pakistan, but as results over the last year or so have shown, the Asian champions can never be counted out.
Alyssa Healy (54* and three stumpings) guided her side to a comprehensive 10-wicket win in their last meeting with Sri Lanka in the T20 World Cup.
The previous two fixtures in Sharjah showed that batting first was the correct call, but it remains to be seen if the surface behaves in the same fashion today.
Playing XIs
Australia: Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown
Sri Lanka: Vishmi Gunarathne, Chamari Athapaththu, Harshitha Madhavi, Kavisha Dilhari, Nilakshika Silva, Hasini Perera, Anushkha Sanjeewani, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Fernando, Inoka Ranaweera, Udeshika Prabodani