Australia A complete a clean sweep in the T20 series against India A

Half-centuries from Elyse Villani and Heather Graham laid the foundation for Australia A in the third and final T20 game against India A at the Bill Pippen Oval in Gold Coast on Monday. With this win, Australia A has completed the series whitewash as well.

Put into bat, Australia A lost two early wickets, courtesy Mansi Joshi who cleaned up Tahlia McGrath for a duck and Erin Burns for 6. Their dismissal brought Heather Graham in the middle. Both started to resurrect the innings from 15 for 2.

Elyse Villani took the charge and accelerated the innings whereas Heather Graham supported her well. Having set their eyes in, they both started hitting all-over the park. They added 101 runs and in between this, Elyse Villani brought up her second fifty of the series. She smashed a 56-ball 70 which included 8 fours and 2 sixes before she mistimed the ball off Anuja Patil while trying to sweep in the 17th over.

However, Graham ensured the runs come at the same pace with the singles and timely boundaries. She scored an unbeaten 51 off 48 and helped Australia A posted a competitive total of 151 for 3 wickets. Mansi Joshi bagged 2 wickets while Anuja Patil scalped 1 for India A.

While chasing, India lost Shafali Verma on a 2-ball duck. After her dismissal, Maitlan Brown and Erin Burns both trapped Sushma Verma and Priya Punia respectively within the powerplay before Veda Krishnamurthy and Nuzhat Parween steadied the ship. Both added 45 runs before Veda missed the delivery off Molly Strano while driving. She scored a 22-ball 35, including 4 fours and a six.

Apart from her, Nuzhat Parween scored an unbeaten 44 off 41 while Dayalan Hemalatha hit a 21-ball 24. But that was not enough to get past the line and they were eventually ended up scoring 129 for 5. Annabel Sutherland, Molly Strano, Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, and Amanda Wellington took 1 wicket each for Australia A.

Brief Scores:

Australia A: 151-3 in 20 overs (Elyse Villani 70; Mansi Joshi 2-16) beat India A: 129-5 in 20 overs (Nuzhat Parween 44, Molly Strano 1-10) by 22 runs.