Australia sweep past West Indies
Australia's World Cup recovery continued as they held off West Indies to record a 47-run victory at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney
Cricinfo staff
12-Mar-2009
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Australia's World Cup recovery continued as they held off West Indies to record a 47-run victory at Drummoyne Oval in Sydney. The hosts lost the opening match against New Zealand but swept aside South Africa before finishing the group stage in second on four points.
West Indies struggled to 7 for 164 in reply to Australia's 7 for 211 as the defending champions fielded a re-worked batting order. The opener Alex Blackwell was pushed down to No. 6 and made an important 46 not out while Ellyse Perry chipped in with a valuable 36 off 35 balls that took the total out of West Indies' reach.
However, there were some problems for Australia, with Leah Poulton falling to the sixth ball of the game and the top order shaking to 6 for 130 when Karen Rolton, the captain batting at seven instead of three, departed for 2. They relied on the opener Shelley Nitschke's 45 and 42 to Jodie Fields to provide some stability before Blackwell and Perry put on 57 in 11.2 overs.
"We lost consecutive wickets throughout our innings, especially early on, and that really hurt us in the middle overs, but I think we regrouped well to get a defendable total on the board," vice captain Blackwell said. "Building partnerships throughout the order - it doesn't really matter where they are - are important, like Ellyse and I did today. She came out and we formed a really good partnership which helped us."
Shakera Selman grabbed 2 for 28 from her 10 overs while Stafanie Taylor and Anisa Mohammed also earned two wickets. Taylor tried to hold together the chase with 32 at the top, but there was no meaningful assistance until Deandra Dottin and Debbie-Ann Lewis (19) combined when they needed more than a run a ball.
Dottin finished with 51 from 54 balls, including four sixes, but West Indies, who also qualified for the Super Six stage, were too far behind. Perry picked up an early and a late victim while the spinners Lisa Sthalekar and Erin Osborne were economical and took two wickets apiece.