By Admin 
Australia defeated Pakistan by 107 runs in the ICC Women’s World Cup here on Wednesday, thanks to a brilliant century by experienced batsman Beth Mooney and her century partnership with lower-order batsman Elena King.
Left-arm spinner Nashra Sandhu (three wickets for 37 runs), off-spinner Ramin Shamim (two wickets for 29 runs) and fast bowler captain Fatima Sana (two wickets for 49 runs) had reduced Australia’s score to seven wickets for 76 runs, but Mooney (109), who came to bat at number 10, made a record 106-run partnership for the ninth wicket with Elena King (51 not out) and the team’s score was nine wickets. on Reached 221 runs.
This is the highest partnership for the ninth or lower wicket in women’s ODI matches. The previous best partnership was 76 runs between Australia’s Ashley Gardner and Kim Garth for the ninth wicket against South Africa in 2024. Mooney hit 11 fours in his innings of 114 balls, while Elena, facing 49 balls, hit three sixes and the same number of fours.
In response, Pakistan team collapsed for 114 runs in 36.3 overs in front of the stormy bowling of Garth (three wickets for 14 runs), Annabel Sutherland (two wickets for 15 runs) and Megan Shute (two wickets for 25 runs) and Australia registered its second win.
Sidra Amin scored the highest 35 runs for Pakistan. Apart from her, no other batsman could even touch the 20-run mark.
Australia had defeated New Zealand in its first match while its second match against Sri Lanka was washed out due to rain. This is Pakistan’s third consecutive defeat. The team had earlier faced defeat against Bangladesh and India.
While chasing the target, Pakistan had a very poor start and the team lost five wickets for 31 runs in the ninth over. Fast bowlers Kim Garth and Megan Shutt took three and two wickets respectively.
Pakistan team never appeared to be even close to the target. Garth gave the first blow to Pakistan by getting Sadaf Shams (05) caught by wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy in the third over, after which Pakistan’s batsman proved to be Aayiram-Gayaram.
Sidra Amin played for some time but Pakistan lost six wickets for 49 runs with the wicket of captain Fatima Sana (11) in the 13th over.
In the twenty-second over, Gardner broke Pakistan’s hopes of getting close to Australia’s score by getting Sidra Amin caught by Sutherland.
Earlier, after inviting Australia to bat first, Pakistan tightened the noose with the brilliant performance of the spinners led by Sandhu, but Mooney stood firm at one end and rescued the team with the help of his fifth ODI century.
Mooney came to the crease when the Australian team had lost two wickets for 30 runs. Amidst the fall of wickets, he held one end and played one of his most memorable innings.
Australia’s score after 25 overs was 83 runs for seven wickets and after this they added 138 runs after losing two wickets.
On a slow and spin-friendly pitch, Australia’s top-order batsmen lost their wickets by playing poor shots. Pakistan performed well in the field and took important catches with brilliant efforts.
Sadia Iqbal (1 wicket for 32 runs) gave the first blow to Australia by getting captain Alyssa Healy (20) caught by Diana Baig in the seventh over, while Fatima caught the second opener Phoebe Litchfield (10) on her own ball in the next over.
As the ball started turning, Australia’s problems increased. Sandhu took two big wickets of Elise Perry (05) and Annabel Sutherland (01), due to which Australia’s score reached 59 runs for four wickets by the 15th over.
Ashley Gardner (01), who scored a century against New Zealand, played a careless shot and played Ramin’s ball straight into the hands of Fatima standing at midwicket, due to which the team lost three wickets by adding only five runs.
Tahlia McGrath (05) and Georgia Wareham (00) were also out after adding just one run in the space of five balls, leaving Australia losing seven wickets for 76 runs.
Mooney then added 39 runs for the eighth wicket with Kim Garth (11) and took the team’s score beyond 100 runs. Diana Baig (1 wicket for 74 runs) broke this partnership by getting Garth caught by wicketkeeper Sidra Nawaz.
After this, Mooney got a good partner in the form of Elena and both of them changed the course of the match. Mooney completed his century in 110 balls with one run off Fatima’s ball in the 48th over.
In the last over of the innings, Elena completed her first half-century with two consecutive sixes on Fatima while Mooney, after hitting two consecutive fours, was caught by Sadaf on the last ball of the innings.
Sudhir