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| Commonwealth Games T20 Gold Medal Match, Edgbaston: |
| Australia 161-8 (20 overs): Mooney 61 (41 balls), Lanning 36 (26 balls) |
| India 152 (19.3 overs): Harmanpreet 65 (43 balls), Rodrigues 33 (33 balls) |
| Australia win by nine runs |
| Scorecard |
Australia continued their dominance of women’s cricket with a thrilling nine-run win over India at Edgbaston to clinch Commonwealth Games gold.
Having secured the women’s Ashes and World Cups in both Twenty20 and 50-over, this success completed an outstanding quadruple for Meg Lanning’s side.
Beth Mooney hit 61 to help Australia reach 161-8 from their 20 overs.
Harmanpreet Kaur’s stunning 65 gave India hope but her dismissal sparked a collapse and they were all out for 152.
New Zealand claimed bronze afterwards beating England by eight wickets earlier in the day.
It is the first time women’s cricket has appeared at the Commonwealth Games.
Australian player Tahlia McGrath was cleared to play in the final despite testing positive for Covid-19 before the start of play.
Cricket Australia said medical staff had implemented a “comprehensive series of protocols” to minimize the risk of transmission to other players and officials.
Despite the early loss of Alyssa Healy for seven, Australia started well and were 83-1 after 10 overs.
But captain Lanning was dismissed for 36, thanks to some excellent fielding by Radha Yadav, who drove the ball onto the stumps to pop it out at non-striker’s end.
Australia’s innings was then anchored by Mooney, whose 61 came from 41 deliveries, before she was dismissed by a stunning one-handed catch from Deepti Sharma in the deep with 16 balls of the innings remaining.
India were reduced to 22-2 in reply but a brilliant partnership of 96 between skipper Harmanpreet and Jemimah Rodrigues raised hopes of a turnaround.
They were level with Australia’s scoring rate in the 15th over, but Rodrigues and Harmanpreet fell in quick succession and India saw their chances of victory fade away.
They kept fighting and went into the final over needing 11 runs to win with two wickets to spare.
But Meghna Singh ran out off the second ball and Yastika Bhatia was trapped lbw on the next delivery to spark scenes of jubilation among the Australian players as they celebrated the gold to add to their remarkable honour.
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