Brisbane: New Zealand women once again slumped to yet another humiliating defeat as they surrendered in front of Australia by eight wickets at the Allan Border Field in Brisbane. Australia thus win the series with the final match on September 30.
Australia took maximum advantage of New Zealand’s spin-vulnerable top-order as the duo of Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham accounted for five of the top seven wickets. Molineux, in particular, set up the game by removing skipper Sophie Devine with her first delivery which forced the visitors to adopt a cautious approach for the rest of the innings.
With no one taking the responsibility of batting through, New Zealand hobbled and wobbled to a score of 128 all-out in the final over of the innings. If anything, the move to mend with their batting order only provoked matters for the White Ferns as they lost a wicket every two overs post the departure of Amy Satterthwaite in the 10th over. They lost their last six wickets for just 48 runs.
Chasing a decent total, Australia were off to a rollicking start as Alyssa Healy went bonkers with a quickfire 17-ball 33 at the top. The rest of the chase seemed to be a mere formality as the home team completed the victory in the 17th over with eight wickets in the bag. With Australia claiming the series 2-0, New Zealand will look to bounce back in the third and final T20I at the same venue.
Brief scores: New Zealand 128 in 19.2 overs (Amy Satterthwaite 30; Delissa Kimmince 3-21) lost to Australia 129/2 in 16.4 overs (Rachael Haynes 40*, Amelia Kerr 1-19) by eight wickets.
