Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney guide Australia to crushing T20 World Cup win

Australia cruised past Sri Lanka in their T20 World Cup clash after a revitalised Beth Mooney and Alyssa Healy put on an unbroken stand of 113 to hand them a 10-wicket win.

Mooney finished unbeaten on 56 and Healy on 54 not out as they went past Sri Lanka’s 112-8 with 25 balls remaining at St George’s Park on Thursday, effectively sealing the defending champions’ place in the semi-finals.

Earlier, Ellyse Perry’s spectacular dismissal of Chamari Athapaththu, Megan Schutt’s four-for at the death, and the spin squeeze from Grace Harris, Georgia Wareham and Alana King had all been vital in pegging Sri Lanka back.

Harris took 2-7 as well as a superb catch to get rid of Athapaththu off Perry, playing a big part in Australia’s win after Sri Lanka had started strongly in the powerplay.

When Australia batted, there never looked any doubt about the result, with Healy reverse-slamming a short ball from Athapaththu off a free hit to reach her second fifty of the World Cup, off just 38 balls.

Then Mooney brought up her run-a-ball half-century with a single towards long-off soon after – and no-one was more delighted at seeing the left-hander return to form than her opening partner.

“It was good for her to spend some time at the crease, probably more for her mental health than anything else,” player of the match Healy said of Mooney, whose previous two scores at this World Cup had been nought and two.

“She’s been hitting the ball really well in the nets and just hasn’t quite been clicking on the field. She played really well today. Hopefully, that gives her confidence maybe.”

Undefeated in the tournament like their opponents in the Group 1 fixture, Sri Lanka had started strong, but offspinning allrounder Ashleigh Gardner didn’t, after