GROUP STAGES MATCH 3: WHITE FERNS defeated Australia by six wickets in Nagpur.
Australia 103/8, 20 overs (Ellyse Perry 42; Leigh Kasperek 3-13, Morna Neilsen 0-4, Erin Bermingham 2-23)
WHITE FERNS 104/4, 16.2 overs (Rachel Priest 34, Suzie Bates 23, Sophie Devine 17; Kristen Beams 1-25)
The New Zealand WHITE FERNS have stunned defending champions Australia in Nagpur with a crushing six-wicket win to remain the only unbeaten team in Group A at the Women's ICC Twenty20 2016.
Make the triple trouble after last night. ICC
The match was dominated by spin, Leigh Kasperek and Morna Nielsen bowling eight overs between them up front after Australia had won the toss and elected to bat on the same pitch on which the BLACKCAPS had defeated India.
The disciplined spin twins quickly put Australia under enormous pressure, reducing the world number ones to 4/4 as player of the match Kasperek struck twice in her first over and then collected a third wicket in Erin Osborne, while dangerous Australian captain Meg Lanning was run out without scoring.
Off-spinner Kasperek, nothing short of a revelation in her debut year with the WHITE FERNS, had removed both openers Elyse Villani and Alyssa Healy off successive balls in the second over, and both to catches at mid-on.
Player of the match Leigh Kasperek bagged 3-13 up front. ICC/Getty
The experienced Nielsen exerted her influence at the other end to finish her four overs having conceded just four runs.
It is the most economical performance in WHITE FERNS history, and one of the top eight most economical performances in women's Twenty20 history worldwide.
In the history of the WT20 tournament — men's and women's — only Hong Kong's Aizaz Shah has produced more compelling figures, with a return of 4-1-4-2 in the 2014 WT20 edition.
Legspinner Erin Bermingham then took over where Kasperek and Nielsen left off, in an innings that saw all but five of the 20 overs bowled by a four-prong spin attack.
WATCH: Reminiscent of a few @ShaneWarne deliveries? Erin Bermingham delivers a beauty. https://t.co/MgkCEjY6Hw #WT20 pic.twitter.com/Wn3UVE0GNX
— ICC (@ICC) March 22, 2016
Sophie Devine's injection of pace proved successful, however, as she picked up her 50th Twenty20 International wicket, trapping a fighting Ellyse Perry on 42 (off just 48 balls) to achieve the 50 wickets/1000 runs double.
Perry had walked in at number five when there were just two runs on the board, and batted defiantly till the 17th over, taking the Australian total to 79 for six before she fell lbw to Devine.
The wicket halted a 50-run stand and significant recovery from Perry and Jess Jonassen, Devine then also taking a top drawer diving catch to dismiss Megan Schutt off spinner Amy Satterthwaite as the New Zealanders restricted Australia to their lowest Twenty20 International total: 103/8.
Openers Suzie Bates and a resurgent Rachel Priest ensured the WHITE FERNS' chase got off to no such dramas with a 58-run opening stand in the space of eight overs and, from there, the New Zealanders were never under scoreboard pressure as they ticked off the runs with almost four overs to spare.
Priest hit two sixes amid her 34 off 27 balls and Bates another for good measure before she was run out for 23 after a hesitation with Sophie Devine.
Pacesetter Bates extended her lead as the top runscorer at the Women's World Twenty20, her tally now 142 from three matches at 47.33.
The unbeaten WHITE FERNS now head to Bengaluru for their final Group match against South Africa at 3am Sunday 27 March NZT.
New Zealand’s third win in a row has almost certainly assured a place in the semi-finals, however, even before its last Group A match.
