ICC Women’s T20 World Cup: Ellyse Perry stars with bat and ball as Australia continues unbeaten streak with 113-run win over Pakistan

Ellyse Perry starred with both bat and ball to help Australia continue their unbeaten run in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup as her side cruised to a 113-run win over Pakistan.

With the win, Australia have opened a significant four-point gap between themselves and India, South Africa and Bangladesh, who have a game in hand, at the top of the Group A standings.

Sophie Molino’s side were ruthless on the field on a warm evening at Headingley, taking advantage of three poor runs from the Pakistani batters to seal victory.

But questions will be asked about Australia’s batting as Beth Mooney, Ashley Gardner and Georgia Wareham failed to make more than five runs.

Perry rallied the six-time champions’ forces, hitting nine fours and one six en route to a big score of 71 off 48 deliveries. The 35-year-old bowled one in the second innings and sensationally returned figures of 2-9 by dismissing Muneeba Ali and Alia Riaz.

“I think I got a little lucky,” Perry said of her bowling performance. “It was fun to bowl the over. But it was just nice to consistently take wickets through those innings as a whole bowling group.

“Pakistan’s intention was really great and challenged us, but it was a good ending for us.”

While Australia were impressive on the field, Perry explained that her side could have been more skillful with the bat.

“We still struggled a lot in the first innings, we lost consistent wickets at times, it was nice to keep the pace going but it probably could have been sharpened,” she added.

Australia chose to bat first, with Mooney being dismissed for an early duck after being caught by Seagull Feroza off Sadia Iqbal’s delivery.

Perry and Georgia Fall steadied the ship with a 100-strong team, but just as they crossed the century mark, Wall tried to gain power with a short delivery from Nashra Sandhu but was unable to get enough power for her turn, sending it straight to Iram Javed at long off.

Australia stuttered as Pakistan kept their foot on the gas and lost several wickets in quick succession, with Sandhu dismissing Gardner two deliveries later.

Wareham came in her place but was subsequently sent to walk for just five runs off the delivery of Rameen Shamim.

Having lost three wickets for seven runs, Annabelle Sutherland combined with Perry to add a further 27 runs before she was caught by Sana, Shamim’s second wicket of the evening.

Another set of wickets fell, with Perry and Molino falling in successive overs and the Australian captain being dismissed for five runs after three deliveries. Nicola Carey (number 26) and Alana King (number 5) saw out the rest of the opportunity.

Australia got off to a fast start in the second innings with Fall and Garth combining to dismiss Feroza after a mix-up between her and Muniba Ali at mid-wicket.

Molineux may have struggled to score runs, but she was excellent with the ball in hand, taking the wickets of Saira Jabeen and Sandhu, whom she dismissed with a stunning off-spinner.

Two overs later, the captain was back in the thick of things with a sensational performance and stopped Aisha Zafar’s powerful shot before sending the ball to Mooney, who stumped the Pakistan batter.

Ali looked to improve Pakistan’s run rate and tried to bowl Perry’s fast ball into deep cover, but Gardner was there to take the ball and Pakistan’s fifth wicket. Perry soon got the second ball, forcing Riaz to take the ball away from Mooney behind the stumps.

With Pakistan at 7-75, Australia tasted the blood and forced another bizarre error from batters Shamim and captain Sanu, this time Fall and Mooney combining to dismiss Shamim as the group leaders raced to victory.

Everyone can live stream all group matches involving England, Scotland and Ireland, plus the semi-finals and final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup on the Sky Sports app for FREE.

All you need to do is download the latest version of the Sky Sports app on your phone or tablet and log in. Download the Sky Sports app at:

Watch every ball of the Women’s T20 World Cup exclusively live on Sky Sports, NOW until the final at Lord’s on July 5th.