Relentless Australia march on as they clinch the Rose Bowl Trophy with a match to spare

Opting to bowl, New Zealand opening bowlers Jess Kerr and Rosemary Mair got off to completely contrasting start with Jess bowling a maiden to Haynes while Alyssa Healy took on Mair hitting her for three boundaries in the first four balls. Healy pulled the first delivery she faced for four before repeating the feat in the second ball as well and smashed Mair to mid-wicket to pick up her third boundary. Haynes started slowly even as Healy was looking to cut loose at the other end.

Even though Jess kept it tight and beat both the batters with the swing, all the pressure was released at the other end with Mair leaking boundaries. Jess’s first spell read 5-2-11-0 with Haynes scoring only 6 from the first 25 balls she faced. Haynes brought up her first boundary off Hannah Rowe in the tenth over through covers.

In the 12^th over, Healy took on Rowe to get Australia past the 50 mark with a couple of boundaries. Haynes used her feet against the spinners, while also playing a few shots behind the wicket. She came down the track to hit Kasperek over her head for four after paddling Amelia Kerr for a four to fine-leg.

However, just as it was looking like Healy would take the game away from New Zealand, Kasperek struck to remove the wicket-keeper for 44 off 50 in the 18^th over to end the 82-run opening stand. Australia didn’t let Healy’s dismissal affect the scoring rate as Meg Lanning got going hitting Kasperek down the ground for consecutive boundaries. Haynes got to her 15^th ODI fifty from 72 balls with a single off Amelia.

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Mair continued to be expensive with both Haynes and Lanning adding a boundary each off her and the pair repeated the feat against Jess when she returned to bowl her second spell. Lanning was looking ominous when Mair dropped her off Hayley Jensen for 48 but Amy Satterthwaite dismissed her in the next over off as the Australia skipper hit one straight to Lauren Down at mid-off.

Ashleigh Gardner got going straightaway launching Mair over deep square-leg with a ferocious pull but not before Kasperek sent Haynes back for an impressive 87 off 105 balls. In what was a good period for the hosts with Kasperek dismissing the dangerous looking Gardner and Ellyse Perry in consecutive overs to leave Australia at 220 for 5 in 41.5 overs.

From there Beth Mooney and Nicola Carey took Australia to 255 for 5 in 47 overs before they became Kasperek’s fifth and sixth victims in her final two overs. Australia’s innings finished on 271 for 7 in the stipulated 50 overs.

For New Zealand, Kasperek finished with her career-best figures of 6 for 46 from her ten overs and she became the first player to take a six-wicket haul against Australia.

In reply, New Zealand’s chase got off to a terrible start with Lauren Down edging Tayla Vlaeminck to slip for a duck in the first over and Satterthwaite nicking a wide fuller delivery off Megan Schutt to Healy, leaving them reeling at 7 for 2.

However, arrival of Amelia helped Hayley Jensen to shake off her cobwebs and form a 69-run partnership with the young allrounder. The pair looked to rotate the strike while hitting occasional boundaries. Amelia started with a square drive through covers and another one through point off Schutt. Jensen played a few shots through the off-side findingthe  boundary once and one top-edge four to fine-leg.

Just as they were looking good, Jensen hit one delivery from Georgia Wareham straight down the throat of long-off to be dismissed for 28 off 40. Brooke Halliday walking in at number five, struggled to get going against Gardner at the start with the off-spinner taking the ball away from the southpaw. Halliday survived two close stumping shouts even as she got down the track to hit Gardner for a boundary over mid-on and another full toss through long-off.

At the other end, Amelia was looking good as she used her feet, swept the spinners before scooping Carey for a four. But after playing five dot balls off Jonassen, she came down the track to hit the ball over leg-side but sliced it to Gardner at backward-point for 47 off 70.

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With the score reading 120 for 4, Halliday and Maddy Green added 24 more runs before Halliday was run out by a direct hit from Haynes. Once the left-hander was gone, the task looked too steep for New Zealand lower-order. Although Katey Martin and Green added another 34 to take the score to 174 in 38 overs, needing 98 runs from the last 12 overs, Green tried to charge Jonassen and was stumped in the 39^th over.

From there, it was game over for New Zealand as they lost last few wickets in a cluster to be all out for 200 from 45 overs. Jonassen finished with figures of 3 for 29 while Wareham picked up two wickets.

Brief Scores: Australia 271/7 in 50 overs (Rachael Haynes 87, Meg Lanning 49; Leigh Kasperek 6/46) beat New Zealand 200/10 in 45 overs (Amelia Kerr 47, Brooke Halliday 32; Jess Jonassen 3/29) POTM: Rachael Haynes