Sthalekar spins Australia to Rose Bowl trophy

Australia 174 for 4 (Elliott 56*) beat New Zealand 173 (McGlashan 46, Sthalekar 5-35) by six wickets
Scorecard

Lisa Sthalekar's five-wicket haul put Australia on track for a convincing victory that earned them their second Rose Bowl triumph in a month. Sthalekar's 5 for 35 was responsible for dismissing New Zealand for 173 and Australia lost four wickets in the chase, which finished in 37.2 overs.

The victory gave Australia a 3-2 success in the away series to follow their 5-3 triumph at home. In a strange sequence, Australia won all eight ODIs while losing all five Twenty20s.

New Zealand, who chose to bat, were already struggling when Sthalekar grabbed the ball and took the final five wickets in her eight overs. After two matches of big scoring, the hosts were in horrible trouble at 49 for 5 in the 18th over and did well to recover.

Sara McGlashan's 46 off 49 was the major contribution but she was unable to escape from Sthalekar, who began her collection with Sophie Devine (30). She finished the innings in the 44th over by having Kate Pulford caught behind.

Australia suffered a couple of hiccups to be 39 for 2 but Alex Blackwell's 44, Sarah Elliott's 56 and 19 for Sthalekar sealed the success. The next major engagement for the teams is the World Twenty20 in May in the Caribbean, where New Zealand will be one of the favourites.