Nick Tsagaris - Australia beat England to meet India in final

1. Nick Tsagaris - Sophie Molineux stars as Australia recovers its form to knock England out of T20 tri- series contention Australia has secured a place in the women's Twenty20 tri-series final after dismantling England's batting attack to win its Junction Oval clash by 16 runs. Meg Lanning's team appeared headed for a third defeat in four matches as they stumbled to 7-132 after being sent in to bat at the Melbourne venue on Sunday. But that sub-par score proved to be more than enough, as left-arm spinner Sophie Molineux (3-19) and quick Tayla

2. Vlaeminck (2-18) never allowed the visitors to gather momentum in their chase. Allrounder Natalie Sciver's dismissal to Molineux for 16 triggered a collapse of 4-17 during the middle overs. The result will be a huge relief to Australian hierarchy as they stared down the barrel of missing Wednesday's decider. After that, Australia plays two final warm up matches against West Indies and South Africa in Brisbane and Adelaide respectively before opening its World Cup campaign on February 21. Australia will play India in its opening World Cup clash at the Sydney Showground. Any defeat to England would have seen Australia sit out the final after India pulled off the third-highest chase in women's T20Is to defeat the Aussies on Saturday. Australia will get an opportunity to turn the tables on India with England missing the decider on net run-rate. While Australia escaped with a second win for the series, there are still concerns about the form of some key players leading into the World Cup on home soil.

3. Star Alyssa Healy's batting woes continued when she was caught on the fence from a misguided pull shot for one. The wicketkeeper/batter has scored just 11 runs in her past four international games and was hit-or-miss during the WBBL. Veteran batter Rachael Haynes (24) put together her best innings of the series after averaging just 6.67 from the first three matches. Healy's opening partner Beth Mooney steered Australia's innings by hitting 50 from 40 balls, but fell in the 16th over as the hosts sank to 5-96.

4. England were superb in the field, with spinners Sarah Glenn (2-18) and Sophie Ecclestone (2-19) in outstanding form. Millions raised as Tendulkar pads up Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has padded up for the first time in almost six years to face Australian women's team star Ellyse Perry. Tendulkar was not expected to take to the field due to a shoulder injury but the 46-year-old great did so for charity during the innings break of the 10-over match. Perry's Australian teammates, fresh from their win over England, fielded for the six balls.

5. Young gun Annabel Sutherland also had a go at bowling to Tendulkar. "Yesterday I figured I could see the ball, I'm not sure about hitting it," Tendulkar said. "It's been a wonderful cause and I'm so glad I could be here." Two volunteer firefighters were also out in the middle as Tendulkar whipped a number of shots to the leg-side. Prolific Australian opening pair Justin Langer and Matthew Hayden reunited for Ricky Ponting's team, who faced an Adam Gilchrist-skippered XI. The light-hearted affair ended in a tie with the teams manufacturing the result towards the end with some creative running and fielding. Australian cricketers will provide up to $2 million to help bushfire-affected cricket clubs get back up and running. It will be passed on through the Grassroots Cricket Fund — set aside by the players from their share of the game's revenue. All match profits and funds raised at Cricket Australia across the weekend will go to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund. By: abc.net.au