16 Feb 2009

Australia beat NZ in womens cricket

5:46 am on 16 February 2009

Shelley Nitschke powered Australia to a nine-wicket victory in a rain-affected women's Twenty20 cricket international against New Zealand at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Nitschke and Lisa Sthalekar put on an unbroken match-winning stand of 77 runs off 56 balls in the rain-reduced clash as the home side reached their revised victory target of 82 from 12 overs with 11 balls to spare.

New Zealand earlier made 91 for 5 from their 14 overs with Katherine Pulford (29 off 24 balls) topscoring for the Kiwis.

The two sides are preparing for next month's World Cup in Australia.