Australia showed all class in Sharjah as they smashed New Zealand by 60 runs in the Women’s T20 World Cup, with Aussie Megan Schutt setting a new world cup record.

Schutt with her amazing bowling figures of 3/3, surpassed South Africa’s Shabnim Ismail to become the leading wicket-taker in Women’s T20 World Cup history with 46 overall wickets.

The defending champions showed a dominant display early against the White Ferns with the Aussie top order batters making their mark in the first innings. Captain Alyssa Healy (26 off 20), Beth Mooney (40 off 32) and Ellyse Perry (30 off 24) did the hard yards to get to 1/79 after 11 overs. Both Healy and Perry hit milestones with Healy passing 3,000 T20 career runs and Perry passing 2,000.

But the efforts of Amelia Kerr restricted the Australians, taking four wickets and a terrific catch at deep mid-wicket. The Aussies, despite their strong start, were let down with their final score of 148/8.

The bowling by the Australians kept New Zealand to 88 with seam-bowler Megan Schutt flexing her muscles, bowling an extraordinary 3/3 off 3.2 overs. Sophie Molineux (2/15) and Annabel Sutherland (3/21) also impressed with the ball.

The margin could have been larger if not for the efforts again from Kerr, top-scoring for the White Ferns with 29 off 31 and Susie Bates with 20 off 27.

The Australian captain, although disappointed with the batting, was content with the outcome.

“We could have been smarter with the bat at the end, but we came out really well with the ball and I’m really happy with that,” Healy said.

“Megan Schutt has been wonderful, but I thought the whole attack tonight was unbelievable.”

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine also talked about her teams efforts, but was disappointed all around the field.

“When we were bowling, we strayed a little too far from the stumps,” Devine said.

“In the field we were a little sloppy. With the bat we need to play some more courageous shots. We needed to have a good start and we let the run rate creep up too much.”

The Australians are still undefeated and sitting at the top of Group A, only needing one more win to secure their spot in the semi-finals. They play Pakistan on Saturday 12 October.

Photo: 2020 ICC W T20 WC A v SL 02-24 Schutt by Bahnfrend is available HERE and is used under a Creative Commons Licence. This image has not been modified.