Were confident of defending the total due to bowlers and on-field experience, says Faltum

Mackay, Aug 10 (IANS) After sealing a 3-0 T20 series win, Australia A captain Nicole Faltum said the side always felt in control of defending the total against India A, citing the belief in their bowlers and the overall on-field experience.

At the Great Barrier Reef Arena on Sunday, all-rounder Sianna Ginger returned figures of 4-16 as Australia A got a narrow four-run win. Though India A produced a sharper bowling effort to restrict the hosts to 144/8, Sianna swung the game back in Australia A’s favour by removing the dangerous Shafali Verma in the eighth over and then having Raghvi Bist stumped in the 15th over.

"We felt like we had it somewhat under control, obviously we know it's a really nice batting wicket, and the outfield is really quick, so it's difficult to defend at times."

"But with the bowlers that we had and the experience on field, we were pretty confident that we were going to be able to defend it. We had the four pacies at the back end to use and then we just wanted to kill the game as early as we possibly could," Nicole was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au at the conclusion of the game.

Sianna then picked out Radha and Sajana Sajeevan in the 19th over, while conceding just three runs and leaving the visitors 15 short of victory with the tail at the crease, which Tess Flintoff defended well in the final over to give Australia A a tight win and restrict India A to 140/8.

"We felt like Ginge was our most 'on' bowler for the day, so she bowled that 19th over to pull back all the momentum and give them a big chunk of runs to chase in that last over and then backed our experience in Tess Flintoff who did an exceptional job to defend that," added Nicole.

Both teams will now to travel to Brisbane ahead of the first one-dayer at the Northern Suburbs Cricket Club ground on Wednesday.

--IANS

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