Beth Mooney scored a magnificent unbeaten 74 as Australia Women clinched their sixth T20 World Cup title by defeating the Proteas Women by 19 runs at Newlands, Cape Town on Sunday.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, openers Alyssa Healy and Mooney got Australia Women off to a steady start. The pair added 36 runs for the opening wicket before the former perished to Marizanne Kapp for 18.
Ashleigh Gardner who walked in at No 3, took on the South Africa bowlers right from the word go. Gardner’s quickfire 21 ball-29 ended, when she was caught at long off by skipper Sune Luus off Chloe Tryon.
Grace Harris (10) was then clean bowled by Nonkululeko Mlaba, as Australia were reduced to 103/3 in the 15th over.
The left hander Mooney reached her half-century in style by chipping Marizanne Kapp over extra cover for four.
In the final over, the 29 year old Mooney smashed Shabnim Ismail for a six and a four. However the Proteas pacer hit back with the wickets of Ellyse Perry (7) and Georgia Wareham (0) in successive deliveries to keep the Aussies to 156/6 in 20 overs.
Chasing 157, the hosts suffered an early jolt as the in form Tazmin Brits (10) miscued a delivery from Darcie Brown to Tahlia McGrath at mid on.
Marizanne Kapp (11) looked good for a brief while, but was dismissed while trying to slog Ashleigh Gardner.
The hosts were in further trouble as skipper Sune Luus (2) was run-out following a mix up with Laura Wolvaardt.
The pair of Wolvaardt along with Chloe Tryon brought the innings back on track with a valuable 55 run stand for the fourth wicket before the former was trapped right in front by Megan Schutt for a fantastic knock of 61. His innings came off just 48 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes.
Jess Jonassen then dented the Proteas hopes by cleaning up the dangerous Chloe Tryon for a 23 ball-25. Anneke Bosch was then run-out while going for a non-existent run as South Africa crawled their way to 137 for six, giving Australia a 19 run win.
Australia 156 for 6 (Mooney 74*, Ismail 2-26, Kapp 2-35) beat South Africa 137 for 6 (Wolvaardt 61, Tryon 25, Gardner 1-20) by 19 runs