Australia too strong in cricket semi

Sophie Devine’s New Zealand women’s team battled hard but had to bow to the superior firepower of Australia in their T20 cricket semi-final. 

New Zealand scored 144-7 and Australia reached 145-5 with three balls to spare.

The result means Australia play India for the gold medal and New Zealand and England face off for the bronze.

Devine top scored against Australia with 53 off 48 balls. She and Amelia Kerr, who made 40 off 36, built the only substantial stand of the innings.

New Zealand lost too many wickets at inopportune times to reach the 160 they thought would be a dangerous target. Nevertheless, after losing several top-order wickets cheaply, they were not dissatisfied with 144.

Devine has made runs consistently through the tournament, and Kerr’s was a well-judged innings.

When Australia batted, Lea Tahuhu, who was initially controversially omitted from the New Zealand team for the Games, bowled outstandingly. 

She picked up the wickets of Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney and Meg Lanning – a world-class trio – for just 20 runs.

But Australia have tremendous batting depth, and even after Rachel Haynes and Tahlia McGrath departed, they still had Ashleigh Gardner and Grace Harris able to come in and see them to victory.

Experienced New Zealand opening bat Suzie Bates said a couple of missed opportunities cost New Zealand dearly when Australia batted. She paid tribute to Tahuhu, who she said had had an outstanding tournament.

“We have a quick turnaround before the bronze medal game against England and that’s where our focus is now,” she said. “We played them the other day and it wasn’t our best performance, but with a medal on the line, that is a lot of motivation and we’ll be ready.”