Australia begin World Cup defence by thrashing NZ

Australia made an ominous start to their Women’s T20 World Cup campaign by thrashing New Zealand by 97 runs.

Megan Schutt dismissed Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine for golden ducks in the first over before spinner Ashleigh Gardner took 5-12.

Opener Alyssa Healy hit 55, captain Meg Lanning a majestic 41 and Ellyse Perry 40 in Australia’s 173-9.

The world-class trio laid a platform, meaning Australia still reached their large total despite losing 5-19 in the closing overs.

They leap straight to the top of the Group A standings, above Sri Lanka who beat hosts South Africa on Friday.

The huge margin of New Zealand’s defeat severely dents their hopes and boosts the chances of the Proteas, given the damage inflicted on the White Ferns’ net run-rate which will separate teams who finish level on points.

England began their tournament with an impressive seven-wicket win over West Indies earlier on Saturday.

Australia make dominant start

Australia have won five of the last six editions of this competition and, having won the Ashes, the 50-over World Cup and Commonwealth Games in 2022, have become one of the dominant teams in world sport.

They suffered a shock loss to Ireland in a warm-up game earlier this week but the emphatic margin of this victory squashed any thought that they are anything but huge favourites in South Africa.

Their batting line-up is fearsome. Their bowling is high-class and varied.

Megan Schutt began with five wides but bowled Suzie Bates, who tried an ambitious scoop off her stumps, a ball later and then trapped Devine lbw. That all but ended the contest and afterwards a ruthless showing from all seven bowlers used followed, Gardner stealing the headlines with her accurate off-spin and her first international five-wicket haul.

With the bat, Australia lost opener Beth Mooney to a stunning leaping catch by Eden Carson in the first over but afterwards Healy and Lanning found the boundaries at will in a dominant stand of 70 from 54 balls.

Lanning was bowled by a googly from Kerr but Perry took on the scoring, hitting two sixes in her imperious 22-ball knock.

The worry for the rest of the competition is Australia’s batting has room for improvement. They looked on course for an even bigger total at 148-4 after 16.2 overs before a slide of wickets which included a sloppy run-out and a succession of catches offered to deep fielders by the lower middle order.

“Someone is going to have play very well to beat Australia,” former England spinner Alex Hartley said.

“They did show slight weaknesses today. They should have got up about 180-190, and could have got 200 at one stage.

“But we are clutching at straws. They are a very strong side.”

‘We’ve started exactly how we wanted’ – reaction

Australia captain Meg Lanning: “Healy and Perry were incredible to put New Zealand under pressure. We are really happy with our performance.”

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine: “To put it bluntly we were really poor today in all facets of the game. I thought Australia batted particularly well. It is really disappointing.”

Player of the match Ashleigh Gardner: “That was set up by our batters and that gave us flexibility and freedom with the ball. We’ve started exactly in the way we wanted too and I was just lucky enough to take the wickets at the end.”