Australia Women continued their domination over Sri LankaWomen in the home series as another clinical display with both bat and ball sawthem take a 1-0 lead in the ODI series. Having already crushed Sri Lanka in theT20I series 3-0, the hosts carried forward the momentum into the 50-over formatas well, winning the opening contest by 157 runs in Brisbane.
Meg Lanning's decision to bat first after winning the tosswas vindicated by a century stand involving herself and Rachael Haynes for thesecond wicket following Alyssa Healy's early departure. Healy, who made arecord 148* in the final T20I just three days ago, was caught and bowled byAchini Kulasuriya for just 8 this time around. However, Lanning and Haynesquickly helped Australia recover with a 126-run stand. While Haynes wasslightly subdued, Lanning took on the attack striking at more than 100.
Both batters registered half-centuries but fell in successive overs to provide Sri Lanka hope. The visitors continued to pick up regular wickets in the second half of the innings but Beth Mooney at the other end continued to keep the scorecard ticking. Mooney became the third player to go past fifty in the innings and her composed 66 helped Australia post a massive 281 on the board.
A target of 282 was always going to be tough for thevisitors and the task became even tougher with their most accomplished batterChamari Athapaththu struggling to get going. The opener made a painstaking32-ball 13 and was the third wicket to fall in the chase. From there on, it wasjust one-way traffic as wickets kept tumbling. Tayla Vlaeminck, Jess Jonassenand Ashleigh Gardner picked up two wickets each with the Sri Lankan innings finallycoming to an end in the 42nd over.
