ISLAMABAD: The Australian women's team, led by an inspirational 133-run knock by opening batter Beth Mooney, demolished Pakistan by 101 runs on Saturday to clinch the three-match ODI series 3-0 in Sydney.
Pakistan have had a dismal start to their tour of Australia 2022/23, losing the first two matches by 8 and 10 wickets respectively. The green shirts, who have been outplayed by the Aussies throughout the series, ended up losing the toss in the third ODI and were sent in to bat by the hosts on Saturday.
Batting first, Australia got an early jolt when Fatima Sana shattered Pheobe Litchfield's stumps to hand Pakistan its first wicket. However, Meg Lanning and Mooney put up a whopping 160-run partnership, with the former scoring 72 from 70 before she was caught by Muneeba Ali off a Diana Baig delivery.
Baig also put an end to Mooney's onslaught, having Ali stump the batter out when she scored 133 off 105 balls. Ellyse Perry and Tahlia McGrath scored 15 and 30 runs respectively while Ashleigh Gardner and Annabel Sutherland failed to score big as well, making only 19 and 26 runs respectively. Australia put up an impressive 336/9 from 50 overs at the end of their innings.
Sana was the pick of the Pakistani bowlers, ending up with figures of 3/53 while Baig ended up with 2/56. Nida Dar finished with 2/50 while Omaima Sohail grabbed a wicket as well.
Pakistan, in response, put up an impressive 61-run opening partnership, which came to an end when Sadaf Shams was run out by Sutherland on 30 from 50 balls. Sidra Ameen scored 34 from 66 before she was bowled out by Gardner. Pakistan skipper Bismah Maroof top-scored with 44 off 71 balls before she too was clean bowled by Gardner.
Dar put up some resistance with a run-a-ball 29 and Ali chipped in with an unbeaten 27 from 40. Ayesha Naseem, Sana and Sohail scored 0, 21 and 17 respectively. Pakistan ended up at 235/7 from their 50 overs, 101 runs short of the target.
Mooney ended up grabbing the Player of the Match and Player of the Series awards at the conclusion of the third ODI.
Pakistan and Australia will now feature in the T20I series. The three-match series will begin from Tuesday, January 24. The match will be played at the North Sydney Oval.
