AUS Women vs NZ Women, 3rd Match, Group 1 at Paarl, WT20 WC, Feb 11 2023 - Ball by Ball Commentary

9.48 pm Well, New Zealand can complain until the cows come home about the Bezuidenhout third umpire decision. But the reality is that this was an absolute mauling by the defending champion juggernaut of Australia. The match was over well before the Bezuidenhout dismissal. It may seem a long time ago now but Megan Schutt dismissed both Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates in the opening over for a pair of golden ducks. From there, New Zealand has no chance, especially when they were trying to chase the highest total Australia had ever made against them in a Women's T20I. The end result is a 97-run win for Australia with New Zealand all out in 14 overs.

The player of the match is Ashleigh Gardner for her career-best haul of 5 for 12: "I think that was set up by our batters and gave us a little bit of flexibility and freedom with the ball. I was just lucky enough to come and take those wickets at the end. I've worked a lot on my wrist position to get up and over the ball to try to turn it. But it's more about the length. Some were bouncing today and some weren't so keeping the stumps in play also kept lbw in the picture. For the whole bowling unit, you need to bowl that knee roll length because some were staying up and some were shooting low so you just wanted to keep the stumps in play."

Fairly accurate summary from Gardner, who had two bowled and two lbw dismissals among her five wickets.

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine: "I thought we were really poor in all facets of the game. I thought Australia batted particularly well. I thought Lea Tahuhu was great with the ball. Amelia Kerr was outstanding. But 170 was always going to be a tough chase and the way we went about it losing early wickets was always going to be hard work. But really disappointing is the only way to sum it up. It's a really important thing to find the positives in this game because it's such a quick turnaround. So for us to be able to take wickets and be able to bowl them out pretty much was really pleasing. I certainly think you need to figure out what you can from the wicket and the conditions but then move forward. It probably played a little lower and slower than we were expecting but it's all part of the game learning to adapt."

Australia captain Meg Lanning: "We came into today knowing it was going to be a bit of a challenge in the conditions. We weren't really sure what we were going to get, but to be able to adapt really quickly, I thought Healy up front and Perry was incredible to put New Zealand under pressure. And then with the ball, early wickets always makes a difference, especially when it's Bates and Devine knowing how dangerous they are. I was disappointed to get out knowing I was just getting going and the conditions what they were. [On Gardner] She's been bowling really well for awhile now and she's become a very reliable bowler for me to go to in any conditions. She's worked really hard to get to this point so it's great that she's getting some rewards."

That's it for tonight's live coverage. Come back tomorrow for some more action from the Women's T20 World Cup when we have another doubleheader. It'll be an all Asian affair as India play Pakistan in the early game from Cape Town before Bangladesh take on Sri Lanka in the nightcap. I'm Peter Della Penna. Until then, take care!

Mark: "Implying that the decision is not as bad as NZ were likely to lose the match anyway is silly. It cut off a promising partnership and impacts on the NRR which could adversely affect NZ later in the tournament. And a bad decision is a bad decision- whatever the likely impact on the game." I never implied that the decision "is not as bad" because New Zealand are losing. What I said was that it is unlikely to be a major talking point after the match because of the lopsided nature of the rest of the match whereas if the same decision happened off the first ball of the final over with one wicket in hand and eight runs to win, it would be a huge talking point for days.