The Aussies continued their in the tournament by defeating neighbours New Zealand in the second semifinal on August 6. The reigning T20 World Cup champions booked their place in the final to be played for the gold medal against India, scheduled for August 7.
The Meg Lanning-led side scripted a relatively comfortable five-wicket victory over their Trans-Tasman rivals in Edgbaston, restricting them to a score of 144/7 before overhauling that in the 20th over of their run-chase.
Experienced pacer Megan Schutt was the star with the ball for the Aussies, taking 3 for 20 off her 4 overs. Her spell was backed up superbly by Tahlia McGrath, who finished with figures of 2 for 30 on the night.
The Aussies managed to put significant leash on run-scoring for New Zealand, with their top-scorer Sophie Devine making 53 but off 48 deliveries. The next highest scorer for the innings was Amelia Kerr, whose 40 took as many as 36 balls coming. With hardly any momentum and flow to their batting effort, the White Ferns failed to take their score near the 160-mark, which may have challenged the Australians a lot more.
In the second half, Australia began with a pair of stutters, losing opener Alyssa Healy (14) and Lanning (7) quite early into the proceedings. Their innings was stabilised by critical thirties from Beth Mooney (36) and McGrath (34), who also ensured the team stayed in line with the asking rate and didn’t allow New Zealand to build further inroads to their side.
The two players departed before they could take the team home but laid the right foundation for Rachael Haynes (19) and Ashleigh Gardner (19*) to come in and play a pair of sensible knocks that propelled the Aussies towards the winning post.
New Zealand managed to keep the lengthy Australian batting unit on the park till the 20th over, thanks largely to the spell delivered by Lea Tahuhu, the right-arm seamer, who took 3 wickets for 20 runs off his 4 overs.
Brief scores
New Zealand 144/7 in 20 overs (Devine 53, Kerr 40; Schutt 3/20) lost to Australia 145/5 in 19.3 overs (Mooney 36, McGrath 34; Tahuhu 3/20) by 5 wickets
