New Zealand fall short despite McGlashan fifty

Australia Women 261 for 9 (Cameron 79, Blackwell 41, Browne 2-19) beat New Zealand Women 232 (McGlashan 65, Nitschke 3-35, Coyte 3-48) by 29 runs
Scorecard

A boundary-laden 79 from Jess Cameron and three wickets apiece for Sarah Coyte and Shelley Nitschke helped Australia to a 29-run win over New Zealand in their opening match of the Natwest Women's Quadrangular in Chesterfield. Cameron's 128-run stand with Alex Blackwell powered Australia to 261 for 9, and despite Sara McGlashan's fluent 65 New Zealand were bowled out for 232 in the 48th over.

New Zealand appeared to have given themselves every chance of keeping Australia to a gettable total during Nicola Browne's exemplary opening spell, which yielded the wickets of Meg Lanning and Leah Poulton.

But Cameron and Blackwell put Australia back on track after they had slipped to 31 for 3, and though New Zealand captain Aimee Watkins eventually removed Blackwell for 41, a couple of lively cameos from the lower-middle order kept up the momentum. Lisa Sthalekar's rapid 32 took the score past 200, and though New Zealand kept chipping away the runs continued to flow.

Lucy Doolan's confident 42, scored at better than a-run-a-ball, got New Zealand's chase off to a fluent start as she put together an opening stand of 63 with Frances Mackay. That was the best partnership of the innings however, and despite a fighting partnership between Suzie Bates and McGlashan that took New Zealand almost halfway to their target, they were always behind the rate.

McGlashan reached a 72-ball fifty, but once she chipped a return catch back to Clea Smith the match was Australia's. Browne and wicketkeeper Rachel Priest smashed a few crisp boundaries before departing. Coyte then returned to bowl Kate Broadmore and end the match.