Australia women take series

Sarah Edwards made the most of her chance to bat at three with a career-best 96

Australia women claimed their one-day international series against India with a 54-run win in the third one-day international at North Sydney Oval.

The victory gives the home team an unassailable 3-0 series lead ahead of the remaining two matches at Manuka Oval in Canberra this weekend.

After winning the toss and electing to bat, Australia amassed 223 for six, with Sarah Edwards the mainstay of the innings with a career-best 96.

In reply, India’s run-chase faltered in the middle overs before finishing at 169 for seven as Australia kept their hold over their opponents with another comfortable win.

Edwards made the most of her chance at number three with a career-best knock that included nine boundaries. She was well-supported by wicketkeeper Jodie Fields, who again produced a valuable contribution with 54 from 56 balls.

Edwards and Fields put on 114 for the fifth wicket, a record for Australia against India, as Australia scored at seven runs per over for the second half of their innings.

Leah Poulton (32 from 54) was the other main contributor with the bat as Australia recorded their highest score of the series so far.

“It was great to get an opportunity batting higher up the order today. I’ve been playing a middle order role in bits and pieces, so to get an opportunity at number three and get set and bat through is really good,” Edwards said.

“Jodie is fantastic to bat with. She comes in and rotates the strike straight away and controls what the bowlers are doing, so it was great to work with her and put a big partnership together.

“It would have been so good to get my first hundred but we had to hit out in the last over and I was feeling very tired at that stage.”

India’s innings began steadily but they slumped to 76 for four in the 27th over.

Australia took the initiative with the run-out of MD Thiruskamini, which prompted a collapse, with India losing three wickets for 12 runs in five overs.

After dominating with the bat in the opening two matches, Lisa Sthalekar did the job with the ball today and ripped through the India middle-order with career-best figures of 4-20.