Published: Mar 31, 2017, 05:14 PM (IST)
Edited: Mar 31, 2017, 05:14 PM (IST)
A half-century to Tasmania’s Georgia Redmayne and five wickets to South Australian Tahlia McGrath steered the Commonwealth Bank Shooting Stars to victory in their opening one-day match against Sri Lanka’s emerging cricketers at Moors Sports Club in Colombo on Thursday. Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat, but the Australians proved too strong with the ball with wickets to Belinda Vakarewa (1-18), Lauren Smith (2-14) and Tahlia McGrath (5-20) restricting the home side to 5-58 in the 25th over. Imalka Mendis (31) showed good signs with the bat but had little support from her teammates, as fast-bowler McGrath and 15-year-old leg-spinner Rachel Trenaman (3-17) cleaned up the tail, restricting Sri Lanka to 92.
With 13 overs still be played Sri Lanka batted on, posting an additional 43 runs, whilst spinner Alana King (3-16) and McGrath added to their wicket tally. Australia stumbled early in their response when opener Tess Cooper (0) was run out by Nilakshi De Silva, but it was all smooth sailing from there as Redmayne (69) and McGrath (33) saw their side past the target with seven wickets remaining.Australia also batted on, with Mikayla Hinkley (17), Georgia Wareham (19) and Rachel Trenaman (19) all making contributions with the bat, whilst Sri Lanka’s Ama Kanchana (3-25) and Chandima Gunarathne (3-40) had an impact with the ball. The two sides will face off in the second one-day match at the same venue on Saturday, with an additional one-day match and three Twenty20s to follow.
