{ "id": "58690", "author": "13", "cnmid": "0", "title": "Women's T20 WC: Mooney, Wareham take Australia to semis", "lang": "en", "series": "1", "cup_year": "2020", "article_type": "General", "excerpt": "Melbourne, March 2:\u00a0\u00a0Beth Mooney's brilliant half-century proved the difference as Australia beat New Zealand by four runs on Monday to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing Women's T20", "subtype": "", "editor1": "

Melbourne, March 2: <\/strong> Beth Mooney's brilliant half-century proved the difference as Australia beat New Zealand by four runs on Monday to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing Women's T20 World Cup.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Mooney's 60 runs from 50 balls, including six fours and two sixes, helped Australia post 155\/5 with the White Ferns requiring the highest successful chase of the tournament to win at Junction Oval.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

New Zealand, who have made the semi-finals once since 2012, fell agonisingly short as their top-order struggled for the third successive game.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Megan Schutt returned with figures of 3\/22, but Georgia Wareham (3\/17) was the pick of the bowlers after taking the crucial wickets of Suzie Bates, Sophie Devine and Maddy Green to set Australia on their way.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Earlier, it was far from the start the hosts would have wanted as star opener Alyssa Healy fell cheaply when she hit in-form Hayley Jensen straight to Amelia Kerr at mid-wicket.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

But the second-wicket partnership of Mooney and Meg Lanning quickly put them back into control, the pair hitting five boundaries between them to end the powerplay on 38\/1.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The skipper was in no mood to settle for singles as she hit back-to-back fours off Anna Peterson's first two balls but her actions proved over-ambitious as her top-edged sweep was caught by Lea Tahuhu at short fine leg for 21.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

With Healy and Lanning gone, Mooney was left to steer the ship and she did so in remarkable fashion, blasting two sixes over mid-on followed by hitting successive boundaries in the 13th to grab her half-century.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The Australian celebrations were short-lived, however, as Leigh Kasperek bowled Ashleigh Gardner for 20.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Mooney then fell in the 18th over when Bates took an excellent tumbling catch at long-on off Peterson to end her stay in the middle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Ellyse Perry made 21 before being stumped by Rachel Priest on the penultimate ball while 19 from Rachael Haynes helped the hosts set a high chase.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Priest powered White Ferns into a promising start, hitting three boundaries in the first three overs but the opener was sent packing in the fourth when Jess Jonassen trapped her lbw for 17.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

It was a steady start from Devine and Bates but a mis-field allowed Bates to bring much-needed momentum to the chase with two boundaries in the seventh.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

But Bates once again fell short of her well-known potential as she was dismissed lbw by Wareham for 14 in the next over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The hosts did well to restrict their opponents but were dealt with a blow when Perry was forced off the field after sustaining a hamstring injury.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Wareham's second wicket may just prove her biggest yet as she dismissed Devine for 31 thanks to Healy's quick reaction with the gloves, leaving New Zealand's middle-order under pressure.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Two sixes from Green helped lower the required run-rate but she was the next to fall victim to Wareham's canny bowling when Healy stumped her for 28.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

The introduction of Kerr, who set up a thrilling finale against India with her bat, couldn't turn things around as the 19-year-old was bowled by Schutt for two before Jensen was caught by Nicola Carey at mid-off first ball.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Australia have joined India from Group A in the semi-finals while England and South Africa have qualified from Group B.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

Brief Scores: Australia 155\/5 (Beth Mooney 60, Ellyse Perry 21; Anna Peterson 2\/31); New Zealand 151-7 (Katey Martin 37*, Georgia Wareham 3\/17, Megan Schutt 3\/28)<\/p>\r\n", "image": "https:\/\/img.cricketnmore.com\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Australia.jpg", "alt_img": "Australia Women Cricket Team", "alt_title": "Australia Women Cricket Team", "image1": "", "video": "", "seo_title": "Women's T20 WC: Mooney, Wareham take Australia to semis On Cricketnmore", "seo_desc": "Melbourne, March 2:\u00a0\u00a0Beth Mooney's brilliant half-century proved the difference as Australia beat New Zealand by four runs on Monday to qualify for the semi-finals of the ongoing Women's T20", "seo_keywords": "", "tag": "", "tagging": "", "status": "1", "img_rpt": "0", "google": "1", "standout": "0", "edapps": "0", "pulse": "0", "no_index": "0", "feed": "0", "fixture": "0", "slug": "womens-t20-wc-mooney-wareham-take-australia-to-semis", "user_id": "0", "read_count": "0", "ians_date": "0000-00-00", "ians_time": "00:00:00", "server_time": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "trash": "0", "view_count": "1103", "page_break": "0", "instant_articles": "1", "auto_link": "1", "created": "2020-03-02 15:09:59", "updated": "2020-03-02 15:09:59", "img_from": "Twitter", "img_source": "", "schedule_publish": "0000-00-00 00:00:00", "news_keywords": "Australia Women Cricket Team", "livescore_text": "", "livescore_link": "", "btn_text": "", "resend_feed": "0", "google_feed": "0", "read_more": "0", "posted_by": "1", "jio_date": "2020-03-02 15:09:59", "scheduled": "0", "news_now": "1", "breaking_news": "0", "google_date": "2020-03-02 15:09:59", "featured": "0", "pred_match_id": null, "article_content_type": null, "link": "https:\/\/www.cricketnmore.com\/cricket-news\/womens-t20-wc-mooney-wareham-take-australia-to-semis-58690" }