MELBOURNE: Australia's 20-year-old pace bowler Annabel Sutherland finished with career-best ODI figures of 4/31 to reduce England to 163 before skipper Meg Lanning's half-century took the hosts through to an eight-wicket victory in the final One-day International of the multi-format Ashes on Tuesday.
Young all-rounder Sutherland led the way with 4/31 at Junction Oval as England were bowled out for a paltry 163, before contributions from all the top-four batters ensured Australia cruised home with more than 13 overs to spare.
The win means Australia finished the multi-format series without a loss and with a 12-4 scoreline.
After opting to bat, England lost debutant Emma Lamb (0) and skipper Heather Knight (9) inside the first hour to slump to 19/2 in nine overs. The experienced duo of Tammy Beaumont (50) and Nat Sciver (46) combined to put on an 88-run stand but were extremely cautious in their approach. They couldn't find a single boundary between overs 18-30, and the pressure of scoring big eventually got to both the batters as they fell in a span of five overs. Thereafter, it all went downhill for the visitors.
Brief scores: England Women 163 in 49.3 overs (Tammy Beaumont 50, Nat Sciver 46; Megan Schutt 2/25, Annabel Sutherland 4/31) lost to Australia Women 164/2 in 36.2 overs (Alyssa Healy 42, Rachael Haynes 31, Meg Lanning 57 not out, Ellyse Perry 31 not out) by eight wickets. IANS
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