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Lisa Sthalekar bagged five wickets and Sarah Elliott hit an unbeaten half century as Australia beat the White Ferns by six wickets to win the One-Day International at Queens Park in Invercargill and secure the Rose Bowl 3-2.
The White Ferns took an early lead in the series after winning the first two Twenty20 matches but couldn’t match their Australian counterparts in the One-Day component, losing three on the trot.
Today the White Ferns were shot out for 173 in 44 overs with Australia chasing down the runs required with over 12 overs to spare.
Leah Poulton blasted 31 off 16 deliveries at the top of the order before captain Alex Blackwell came in and hit 44 to put the tourists in control of the small run chase.
With the solid platform in place Elliott was able to take her time and along Sthalekar (19*) guided the tourists to a comfortable victory.
It was not as if they were being gifted the runs either as the New Zealand bowlers toiled honestly and with purpose but didn’t have enough runs on the board to seriously threaten the quality Australian line up.
Earlier, the White Ferns won the toss and elected to bat but were always under pressure after the loss of early wickets saw them crumble to a precarious 49 for five.
Sara McGlashan and Sophie Devine fought hard with 46 and 24 respectively but they needed more from the top order if they were to reach a competitive total.
For Australia, Sthalekar was the wrecker in chief, ripping through the middle order to finish with five for 35.
Rose Bowl Series
Twenty20 Series
Fri 26 Feb – White Ferns won by 59 runs
Sun 28 Feb - White Ferns won by 17 runs
One-Day Internationals
Wed 3 Mar – Australia won by 2 wickets
Sat 6 Feb – Australia won by 6 wickets
Sun 7 Feb – Australia won by 6 wickets
