BASSETERRE, St Kitts, CMC – Title-holders England finished their warm-up phase for the Women’s World Twenty20 Championship unbeaten by completing a convincing 79-run win over Sri Lanka yesterday.
Batting first at the St Paul’s Sports, they rattled up 160 for five from their allotted 20 overs with Claire Taylor scoring 70 and Jenny Gunn getting 42.
They then restricted Sri Lanka to 81 all out off 16.3 overs with 21-year-old off-spinner Danielle Hazell taking three for nine and left-arm spinner Holly Colvin grabbing two for 15.
On Sunday, they beat India by 25 runs in their first match.
In the second match at the venue, Australia beat Pakistan by 82 runs to also tune up nicely for the tournament.
Elyse Villani stroked 45 from 34 balls while Leah Poulton scored 44 from 21 balls to help the Aussies to 166 for five from their allotted overs.
In reply, Pakistan fell short of their target, collapsing to 84 all out off 16.2 overs with Ellyse Perry (2-5), Shelly Nitschke (2-15), Rene Farrell (2-15) and Lisa Sthalekar (2-25) picking up two wickets apiece.
At St Mary’s Park, India bounced back to beat South Africa by 23 runs in their second warm-up game.
Mithali Raj hit 45 from 43 balls with four fours to get India up to 140 for nine with fast bowler Angelique Taai claiming three for 22.
Trisha Chetty then hammered 65 from 53 balls but South Africa could only muster 117 for five as left-arm spinner Gouhar Sultana (2-12) and leg-spinner Priyanka Roy (2-18) took two wickets apiece.
