AUS Women vs NZ Women, 11th Match at Wellington, Women's World Cup, Mar 13 2022 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Australia with a big win and New Zealand with their second loss. The race for the semi-finals is wide open with Australia looking a sure-shot entry. Hope you enjoyed our coverage of today's clash. Thanks for the comments and do keep them coming in. Check out all the reaction and analysis from this game on this platform. Tomorrow there is a double-header with Pakistan taking on Bangladesh and a big game between South Africa and England. We will be there for those. Do join us then. Until next time, on behalf of Sreshth Shah and Binoy George, signing off from here. Take care.

Meg Lanning: We thought we were in a bit of pressure, but that's the beauty of our batting lineup that we have great depth. We have players who can rescue us in a way that allows us to build the platform to play the way we did at the back end. Training is overrated I suppose. It was great to have Gardner back, it was a tough 10 days for her and looking forward to the rest of the tournament for her. It certainly gave us the momentum going into the bowling innings. We felt it was a good score without being a match-winning one, we knew we had to take early wickets, that's why we went hard early with the ball. I had told Schutt that she may not open the bowling, but I'm not sure she was prepared to come on so late (laughs). Bit different today but it seemed to work. We had a tough selection today, Jess Jonassen missed out, she is a world-class bowler but we felt we wanted the extra pace option was the way to go because we wanted to be aggressive up front. It worked today, it may not another day, but that's the way we want to look at every game this World Cup.

Sophie Devine: That's why we wanted to bowl first, to contain them and keep them down but it shows the quality of the Australian side, even when you have them three-four down, had the run-rate in control, the way they could launch at the end, it was too much of a score today. It was a combination of both poor bowling and Gardner's batting. Can't take away the way she hit the ball, she was outstanding. She hit it with the wind which in Wellington if you hit it in the air it carries 20-30 metres further. We always knew that with the wind would be tough. Credit goes to Australia. 250-260 seems to be par, and we knew the outfield is true, we knew if we had wickets in hand it was a chase we could've been comfortable with. Our batting performance was "poor", we knew that the blueprint was to take time early and cash in later, but we couldn't today. The break will be hugely important. Will be nice to get an extra day off, important for us to step away for a day or two. We are really looking forward to the game against South Africa which is a huge game for us.

Perry: It was nice to rebuild with Mooney and Tahlia, and then the fireworks from Ash. Awesome way to finish the innings, build momentum and finish well. It was nice to have a couple of partnerships, but NZ bowled well in at the start and even in the middle. The finish was all up for Ash and Tahlia. The breeze was coming across the ground and we were hoping it would shape a bit. Darcie's wickets were so crucial today. I've been working really hard. As a quick bowling group, everyone took wickets, especially on a particularly good batting deck.

Ellyse Perry is the Player of the Match for her all-round show.

Jack: "Look out, Australia, as per usual at any ICC tournament, means business!"

Neil: "Worse possible outcome-a big loss Two close loses similar to windies defeat would probably still give a chance the way the matches have been going but this will absolutely destroy the Ferns net run rate!"

4.59pm: What a statement from Australia. In one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament, they have made it a one-sided rout. They carried on the batting momentum provided by Gardner into their bowling innings. Perry bowled Devine out early and then Brown took the big two of Bates and Amelia Kerr. From then on it was a struggle, even though Satterthwaite tried her best. But Australia just ran through the rest of the lineup to notch up a massive win. Eventually that opening spell from Brown effectively ended the contest with the White Ferns slumping to 35/5. So Australia reassert their credentials as the team to beat in this tournament. Do stay tuned for the presentation...

Time for drinks. Just the formality of the last wicket left. Australia on their way to a big win