Women’s Cricket World Cup: Australia beat India to reach semi-finals with Meg Lanning scoring 97 | Cricket News

Australia captain Meg Lanning scores 97 as Women’s World Cup favourites defeat India by six wickets in record run chase in Auckland to reach semi-finals; watch every match of the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup live on Sky Sports

Alyssa Healy (L) and Rachael Haynes celebrate their 100-run partnership for Australia

Australia completed a record run chase to beat India by six wickets and become the first team to book a place in the semi-finals of the Women’s World Cup.

India, who lost the toss and were put in to bat, scored an imposing 277-7 at Auckland’s Eden Park on the back of half centuries from Yastika Bhatia (59), skipper Mithali Raj (68) and Harmanpreet Kaur (57no).

Darcie Brown was the pick of the Australia bowlers with 3-30, while Alana King too 2-52.

Rachael Haynes and Alyssa Healy responded with an opening stand of 121 for Australia and captain Meg Lanning then took the tournament favourites to the brink of victory with a superb 97 from 107 balls.

Lanning departed with eight balls remaining and eight runs still required but Beth Mooney (30no) struck two fours in the final over to see Australia to their fifth win from five matches with three balls to spare as they finished on 280-4.

“It was a ripper wicket and to come away with a win against an excellent team is really good for the group,” said Lanning.

“We want to keep getting better every game. We’ll take the win today but know that there are things we need to improve on.”

The previous highest successful chase at a Women’s World Cup was the 258 Australia scored to beat Sri Lanka in the 2017 tournament in England.

The victory ensured the six-times World Cup winners will finish in the top four of the opening round standings to secure a place in the semi-finals ahead of their last two group matches against South Africa and Bangladesh.

India, who also lost their previous game to England, must now win their final group matches against the same two teams to keep alive their hopes of reaching the last four.

Watch England Women take on New Zealand Women in a must-win World Cup clash live on Sky Sports Cricket from 9.30pm on Saturday night.