There was one strange moment when striker Nida Dar came out very late - too late for McGrath to abort her delivery, which bowled the allrounder - but umpire Claire Polosak determined it was a dead ball because Dar was distracted by a noise, which turned out to be instructions shouted by the non-striker.
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Beth Mooney smashed a career-high 133 to help Australia beat Pakistan by 101 runs at North Sydney Oval, completing a 3-0 one-day series whitewash. Mooney’s 103-ball innings, her third century in the format, and Meg Lanning’s 72 established the groundwork for Australia’s 9-336 after Pakistan sent the hosts in for the third Commbank ODI. Pakistan, headed by skipper Bismah Maroof’s 44, produced a much-improved effort with the bat after their innings of 8-160 and 125 all out in Brisbane, but simply had the firepower to reel in what would have been the biggest chase in women’s ODI history, limited to 7-235. Pakistan’s fast bowler Fatima Sana (3-53) spearheaded a powerful new-ball showing that made things difficult for Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield at the beginning of the innings.
Mooney was shaky at the start, scoring only 10 runs off the first 30 deliveries she faced, but after she settled, the left-hander erupted, striking 123 runs off her following 75 innings. Her fifty came off 61 balls, while Lanning was on fire from ball one, bringing up her own half-century, her second in as many innings after a five-month break, from 56 balls. She did it in style, slamming a huge six off 22-year-old debutant Tuba Hassan (0-69 off six) that slammed into the Molly Dive stand’s second-floor windows.
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Lanning’s run to a century was cut short on 72 when she was caught behind off the bowling of Diana Baig (2-56) straight after the second drinks break, but Mooney was unstoppable. Mooney reached her third one-day century off 92 balls, as she raised her bat and greeted the North Sydney Oval audience. She then erupted, hitting Hassan for three straight sixes, the second of which landed on the roof of the O’Reilly Stand, before a nearly identical effort a ball later bounced over the roof and out into the street. Mooney improved on her previous ODI best of 125no, but her run came to a stop in the 36th over when she was stumped off the bowling of Nida Dar.
Four modifications were made by the tourists for the season finale, including the addition of Sadaf Shamas and Sidra Amin to the top of the list. Shamas got off to a strong start, hitting the boundary six times, and the 61-run opening stand held until tragic events caused Shamas to be run out for 30. By dismissing Amin for 34, Gardner atoned for an earlier error. She then dealt Maroof a similar fate, dismissing the Pakistani captain for 44. There was one strange moment when striker Nida Dar came out very late – too late for McGrath to abort her delivery, which bowled the allrounder – but umpire Claire Polosak determined it was a dead ball because Dar was distracted by a noise, which turned out to be instructions shouted by the non-striker.
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