Bowlers, Villani give Australia 3-0 lead

Australia Women took a 3-0 lead in the T20 series after another decisive win against the struggling Pakistan Women's side in Gold Coast on Wednesday. A win in the fourth T20 on Friday will take Australia's score line in the T20 series to 4-0, the exact margin by which they won the ODI series last month.

Pakistan's highest T20 score in their last two games was 92 and they couldn't better that in the third match after they won the toss and opted to bat. The Australia bowlers struck early - Julie Hunter, Delissa Kimmince and Erin Osborne had removed Pakistan's top order by the sixth over, leaving them tottering at 18 for 3. Nain Abidi held the innings together with a 42-ball 30 but had no partners who could lift Pakistan to a more competitive total. Three run-outs towards the end of the innings only hastened Pakistan's slide and they eventually finished at 9 for 84 from their 20 overs.

Australia cantered to victory despite the early loss of Kimmince. Elyse Villani scored her second fifty of the series, a 39-ball 50 in which she struck nine fours. She hit both Sania Khan and Qanita Jalil for three fours in an over and within a space of 15 balls between the sixth and the eighth overs, moved from a score of 11 off 15 balls to 43 off 30, decimating Pakistan's already slim chances. She fell when Australia were eight runs short of the target and they completed the formalities in the 12th over.