Sutherland, Gardner star as Australia complete whitewash

Annabel Sutherland's sparkling ton and Ashleigh Gardner's all-round show led the way for Australia as they sealed a comfortable 83-run win over India in the final ODI of the series, thereby completing the whitewash. Sutherland's innings of 110 was the defining performance of the game, given that she had come to the crease with Australia had slipped from 58/0 to 78/4 in a jiffy. Half-centuries from Ashleigh Gardner (50) and Tahli McGrath (56*) played the ideal foil for the home side before the former did the damage later on with her off-spin.

It meant that Smriti Mandhana's brilliant ton in the chase went in vain as the southpaw found very little support from the other end. With the ball also, India had a lone star performance in the form Arundhati Reddy (4-26) while the others struggled to come to terms with the nature of the Perth surface that had something in it for the fast bowlers. India's decision to bowl seemed a misfire due to the erratic new-ball bowling as Phoebe Litchfield and Georgia Voll once again got Australia off to a brisk start. It was only when Arundhati was brought on, that India regained control.

Both openers fell in quick succession, as did Ellyse Perry, all to the guile of Arundhati who then dealt another blow to Australia by derailing Beth Mooney. The World Champions' innings hit a temporary roadblock but Sutherland and Gardner rebuilt steadily before changing gears. The former in particular looked in great rhythm and struck the ball cleanly, peppering the boundaries and also sending a few over the ropes as well. By Gardner's standards, her innings was a subdued one but it did the job for Australia and after she fell, McGrath took over the mantle of giving Sutherland the required support.

The all-rounder got to her ton in the final over the innings with a six and McGrath also used the long handle to good effect as Australia ended with a total very close to 300. It was an above-par score even with the good batting conditions on offer. Mandhana, though, was in the mood and cashed in on the surface with an excellent blend of finesse and power. She struck 105 off just 109 balls and maintained the tempo from her end. Harleen Deol (39) combined with the left-hander for a century stand but it was Mandhana who did all the heavy lifting in the partnership. Once it was broken, the innings started to slide downwards.

Jemimah Rodrigues started with a flurry but couldn't sustain it as Gardner spun a web around India's batters. The pressure of doing it all on her own saw the end of Mandhana too, as she perished to a soft dismissal against the office and the innings then nosedived completely. It was another game where India couldn't put in a strong collective performance as only player stood out in batting and bowling. Australia were clinical and the only blip for them was the injury to Voll on the field after which the opener couldn't take the field.

Brief scores: Australia 298/6 in 50 overs (Annabel Sutherland 110, Tahlia McGrath 56*, Ashleigh Gardner 50; Arundhati Reddy 4-26) beat India 215 in 45.1 overs (Smriti Mandhana 105; Ashleigh Gardner 5-30, Megan Schutt 2-26) by 83 runs