Australia 209 for 4 (Lanning 88*, Villani 51, Gunn 2-38) beat England 152 for 9 (Sciver 50, Wyatt 34, Schutt 3-14, Gardner 2-20) by 57 runs
Meg Lanning crunches a sweep © AFP
The highest women’s T20I total – 209 for 4, most fours in a T20I innings in men’s or women’s cricket – 32, and the joint second-highest fourth-wicket stand in women’s T20Is, of 139, underpinned Australia’s first T20 series win since August 2015, as they routed England by 57 runs in the tri-series final in Mumbai. The victory capped Australia’s double series triumph on this tour, having consigned India to a 3-0 clean sweep in Vadodara.
Presiding over the carnage was Australia captain Meg Lanning, who smashed an unbeaten 45-ball 88 – her fourth straight unbeaten knock – at her highest personal T20I strike-rate of 195.5. A tally of 16 fours and a six steered her blitzkrieg and anchored the century stand with Elyse Villani, whose menacing 30-ball 51 contributed to a frenetic period of dual offensive that lasted 72 balls and 49 minutes at the Brabourne Stadium.
Putting England under the pump in the absence of captain Heather Knight, who missed out to a low-grade hamstring strain, Lanning and Villani offset stand-in captain Danielle Hazelle plans with 24 combined fours, 18 of which were hammered in a space of 36 balls, from the 11th to 16th over.
That the duo had to shoulder the repair work from 66 for 3 in the eighth over was down to an erroneous umpiring call that had Beth Mooney adjudged lbw on the fourth ball off the innings, coupled with Jenny Gunn’s double-strike that accounted for Ashleigh Gardner and Alyssa Healy.
Full report to follow…
Annesha Ghosh is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo