Awesome Australia lay down marker with thrashing of New Zealand

The six-time champions bested their antipodean neighbours in all facets of the game, winning by 60 runs to cement their spot at the top of Group A.

It was the Australian top order who set up the win with an aggressive batting effort having won the toss, as Alyssa Healy (26 from 20), Beth Mooney (40 from 32), Elysse Perry (30 from 24) and Phoebe Litchfield (18 from 18) did the heavy lifting to set New Zealand 149 to win in Sharjah.

And the White Ferns slumped to a 60-run loss as they were blitzed by a brilliant bowling effort from the defending champions, for whom Megan Schutt returned extraordinary figures of 3/3 from her 3.2 overs, with Sophie Molineux (2/15) and Annabel Sutherland (3/21) also impressing.

The margin of defeat could have been even greater were it not for Melie Kerr, who hit back to restrict Australia with an inspired display in the field, taking 4/26 and holding on to a terrific catch, before top-scoring for her side with 29.

And the nature of the result could have a big impact on the final shake-up in Group A, with New Zealand taking a significant hit to their net run rate.

New Zealand’s chase suffered an early setback when Schutt wrote herself into the record books, bowling Georgia Plimmer (4) in the third over to become the leading wicket-taker in the history of the Women's T20 World Cup.

The White Ferns looked intent on setting a platform early in their effort, reaching 29/1 at the end of the powerplay, with Kerr and Suzie Bates surviving a testing spell against the Australian attack.

But the innings turned on the wicket of Kerr (29 from 31), who looked to take on Schutt to up the scoring rate and miscued a catch straight to Sutherland.

And the wickets tumbled from thereon in.

Georgia Wareham got in on the act, accounting for Brooke Halliday (2), before Sutherland took centre stage, putting herself on a hat-trick as she cleaned up Maddy Green (1) and then had Isabella Gaze (0) trapped in front next ball.

The hat-trick wasn’t to be, but Sutherland bagged her third wicket when she cleaned up Rosemary Mair, finishing with figures of 3/21.

And Schutt returned to finish the match off, bagging her third wicket to wrap up a statement win for her team.