Brilliant display of batting by Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes and Beth Mooney gave Australia an upper hand over England in the first innings of the summit clash of the ongoing ICC Women's ODI World Cup, here at Hagley Oval, Christchurch on Sunday.
Healy played a brilliant knock of 170 while Haynes and Mooney scored 68 and 62 runs, respectively, to take Australia's total to 356/5 in the first innings.
Put to bat first, Australia had an amazing start as the opening batters Healy and Haynes stitched a long partnership of 160 runs. England finally took a sigh of relief when Sophie Ecclestone dismissed Haynes after scoring 68 runs.
Mooney came to the crease and thrashed the England bowlers, along with Healy. The duo kept on hitting runs and took their side across the 300-run mark. Their carnage finally came to an end after Anya Shrubsole dismissed Healy, who departed after scoring 170 runs, with the team's total at 316/2 in 45.3 overs.
Healy's wicket was followed by Ashleigh Gardner's dismissal, who got run out with 1 run in her kitty. Skipper Meg Lanning came to the crease with Beth Mooney and tried to anchor the innings before the duo fell prey to Shrubsole's fiery spell and departed, with the team's total at 331/5.
Later, Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry joined hands and took their side to the total of 356/5, at the end of the first innings.
England now need a total of 357 runs in 50 overs, to win the final clash of the ongoing ICC Women's ODI World Cup.
Brief scores: Australia (Alyssa Healy 170, Rachael Haynes 68; Anya Shrubsole 3/46) vs England.
( With inputs from ANI )
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