Beth Mooney, bowlers lead Australia to 6th Women’s T20 World Cup title after beating spirited South Africa
Women’s T20 World Cup 2023: Australia won their sixth T20 WC title after beating South Africa by 19 runs in the final at the Newlands in Cape Town.
Mooney, bowlers lead Australia to 6th WT20 WC title after beating South Africa. Courtesy: Reuters
By Sabyasachi Chowdhury: Australia, on Sunday, February 26, won the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 after beating Sune Luus’ South Africa by 19 runs in the final at the Newlands in Cape Town. Meg Lanning and Co. also completed a hat-trick of the title after also winning in 2018 and 2020.
Australia got off to a steady start courtesy of a 36-run partnership between Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney. Healy was starting to look dangerous when the experienced Marizanne Kapp accounted for her wicket. Shabnim Ismail bowled a maiden in the last over of the power-play as Mooney didn’t have much idea about tackling the pacer’s venom.
Australia promoted the likes of Ash Gardner and Grace Harris to No.3 and 4, which clearly meant that they wanted to put pressure on South Africa through their power-hitters.
Gardner hit Nonkululeko Mlaba for two fours in a row and followed them up with back-to-back sixes off fast bowler Nadine de Klerk. Just when Gardner was looking to take the match away from the opponents, Chloe Tryon dismissed her.
Gardner tried to go downtown only to hole out to Sune Luus, who settled herself perfectly under the ball. The right-handed batter scored 29 off 21. Grace Harris was foxed by Mlaba, who finished with figures of 3-0-24-1.
Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry couldn’t make much of an impact after going down the order. But at the other end, Mooney held the innings together. She became only the third batter after Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakkara and West Indies’ Marlon Samuels to score two half-centuries in T20 World Cup finals.
Mooney stayed unbeaten on 74 off 53 with nine fours and one six. Shabnim Ismail was hit for a six followed by a four in the 20th, but she came back to pick up the wickets of Perry and Georgia Wareham.
The Australian bowlers showed a lot of accuracy as South Africa scored only 22 runs in the powerplay and lost the wicket of Tazmin Brits, who played a critical role in her team’s semi-final win over Heather Knight’s England.
Marizanne Kapp hit a couple of fours before Ash Gardner accounted for her wicket. Sune Luus had a terrible time with the bat and her knock exactly that way. She was involved in a horrendous mix-up with Laura Wolvaardt and got run out at the striker’s end.
From there on, Wolvaardt took charge, played some delightful shots and brought up her half-century off 43 balls. But Megan Schutt delivered the body blow after dismissing her LBW. Wolvaardt took the DRS, but to no avail and had to perish after scoring 61 runs off 48 balls with five fours and three sixes.
Chloe Tryon hit Jess Jonassen for a six down the ground to keep alive South Africa’s hopes, but the latter made amends on the very next ball. After she got out, things went downhill for the hosts very quickly. In the end, South Africa finished with 137 for six.
