Beth Mooney, Annabel Sutherland and Alana King starred in another dominant Australia performance to crush New Zealand by 82 runs in Mount Maunganui and close out their first women’s T20I series win in New Zealand with one game remaining.

Mooney scored 70 off 42, her fourth 70-plus score in her last five T20Is, to earn Player-of-the-Match honours again and underpin Australia’s mammoth total of 204 for 3, where all five of Australia’s batters on show reached 23 or more. Only Phoebe Litchfield struck at under 153. Georgia Voll’s blistering 36 off 20 set the tone for Mooney to follow before Litchfield, Ellyse Perry and Sutherland all produced valuable cameos.

Sutherland then ripped through New Zealand’s top order, taking three wickets in her first seven deliveries after King had knocked over Suzie Bates, to extinguish any hopes of a record chase as they folded for just 122. Sutherland finished with extraordinary career-best T20I figures of 4 for 8 from 2.1 overs. King, who was oddly left out of Australia’s XI in the first game of the series despite starring in the Ashes, took 3 for 27 having come in for the injured Ash Gardner.

Amelia Kerr took 1 for 27 from four overs and made 40 off 36, but no other New Zealand player conceded fewer than eight runs per over with the ball or scored more than 22 with the bat.

Mooney and Voll once again took the wind out of New Zealand’s sails, this time blasting a 57-run opening stand in 5.1 overs after Australia won the toss and chose to bat on a pristine surface.

Picking up from where the two had left off following their 123-run stand in Auckland, Voll was vicious in her assault on the new ball. She smashed seven boundaries in the first five overs and could have done more damage had she not picked out fielders in the ring with several powerful strikes. She clubbed Eden Carson for three fours in the second over on the innings and then produced back-to-back boundaries off Rosemary Mair in the fourth to reach 33 from 17 before Mooney had got to double-figures.

She fell in unusual fashion, bounced out by Sophie Devine with keeper Polly Inglis up to the stumps. Both Voll and Inglis thought she had missed a pull shot. But Devine thought she heard something, and a review showed a spike on real-time snicko as ball passed bat.

Mooney enjoyed a slice of luck when Devine misjudged an aerial square drive on the deep point rope. She came in too far and it sailed over her head but landed inside the rope.

The left-hand batter then continued her form, accumulating with ease. She shared a 69-run stand with Litchfield, who made a scratchy 32 from 29. When she holed to long-on, Australia upped the tempo with Perry pumping her first delivery over cover for four.

It sparked an electric finish to the innings. Mooney holed out to Amelia Kerr, who very nearly pinned Sutherland lbw first ball with a superb wrong’un. Sutherland needed a review to overturn a decision with ball tracking showing it was just going over middle. Sutherland and Perry proceeded to take 40 from the last 18 balls of the innings. Sutherland smashed an enormous six in her 23 not out from 15. Perry showed her class off the last two balls of the innings, lofting inside out over cover and then reverse lapping fine of third to finish unbeaten on 29 from 15.

New Zealand’s pursuit of the record chase never got going. King bowled Bates in the second over before Sutherland removed Georgia Plimmer and Devine in consecutive balls in the fifth. When Brooke Halliday miscued to mid-on off Sutherland’s first ball of the seventh over, New Zealand were 45 for 4 and Sutherland had 3 for 3.

Amelia Kerr fought hard alongside Maddy Green but the game was well and truly gone. Georgia Wareham trapped Green lbw for 22 before King and Darcie Brown tore through the tail. King removed both Kerr sisters within three balls before Brown picked up two in four balls in the next over.

Sutherland flattened Carson’s off stump to seal the win with New Zealand losing 5 for 13 to be bowled out for 122.

Brief scores:
Australia Women 204 for 3 in 20 overs  (Beth Mooney 70, Georgia Voll 36, Phoebe Litchfield 32, Ellyse Perry 29*, Annabel Sutherland 23*; JessKerr 1-39, Sophie Devine 1-38, Amelia Kerr 1-27) beat  New Zealand Women  122 in 16.1 overs (Suzie Bates 12, Amelia  Kerr 40, Maddy Green 22, Jess Kerr 14; Annabel Sutherland 4-08, Alana King 3-27, Darcie Brown 2-23, Georgia Wareham 1-15) by 82 runs

[Cricinfo]