The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars have sent an ominous warning out to their rivals ahead of the ICC Women's World Cup after crushing West Indies by 135 runs in a warm-up match in Mumbai on Monday.
Australian captain Jodie Fields elected to bat first after winning the toss and her top order justified her decision as Jess Cameron (62 off 53 balls), Rachael Haynes (61 off 73), Lisa Sthalekar (59 retired off 58) and Elyse Villani (50 retired off 59) all made half-centuries to help propel their side to a massive 5-333 from their 50 overs.
In response, the Windies never got going and were eventually bowled out for 198 inside 45 overs with Deandra Dottin (52 off 30) the standout of their innings.
The Southern Stars spread the dismissals around with Ellyse Perry (2-36 off six overs) and Sthalekar (2-42 off eight) the only multiple wicket-takers while Holly Ferling (1-12 off five), Sarah Coyte (1-21 off six), Megan Schutt (1-22 off six) and Renee Chappell (1-41 off eight) also got in on the action.
Fields was pleased with the performance of her team ahead of their next warm-up clash against tournament hosts India on Wednesday and their World Cup opener against Pakistan at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Thursday.
"It's always good to get a win first up and we're looking to follow that up with another dominant performance in our practice match against India tomorrow," Fields said after the match.
"We will look to build on that momentum and we will take confidence from that win leading into our first official match of the tournament."
First Posted 29 January, 2013 10:21AM AEST
