Georgia Wareham showed why the Australian selectors view her as a future all-rounder by reaching her first international half-century in a 58-run twenty20 win against Bangladesh.
Wareham, usually picked for her leg-spin, rose up the order and hit 57 runs off 30 balls as Australia scored 8-161 in Dhaka.
The spinner then took 1-24 in her four overs as the tourists held Bangladesh to 9-103 and took a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.
Wareham has long been considered a potential all-rounder due to her potential with the bat and ability in the field, but on Tuesday she showed her best with the willow.
She went long at will while making good use of her crease to pull and cut against the spinners.
Shorna Akter was sent to the boundary three times in a row, with Wareham moving across the crease to draw the spinner for two fours and then cut her for another.
The flood of runs came when Wareham and Grace Harris (47) scored 20 in the eighth over against Shorna, turning the momentum significantly in Australia’s favour.
With the ball out for the first time, Wareham bowled a first over and bowled Dilara Akter (27) in her second ball when the right-hander came back to pull her.
Spinners Ashleigh Gardner (3-17) and Sophie Molineux (3-10) were the stars with the ball for Australia.
The Molineux numbers continue a brilliant tour for the spinner, who has now taken 10 wickets in two one-day internationals and two T20s after being picked ahead of Jess Jonassen.
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The Victorian missed more than a year of cricket due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in late 2022, but Molineux now wants to be part of Australia’s T20 World Cup squad for the September-October tournament in Bangladesh.
There was some joy among the hosts on Tuesday as Fariha Trisna (4-19) scored a hat-trick, becoming only the third woman in history to score twice in T20 internationals.
With the last three balls of the innings, left-arm medium pacer caught Ellyse Perry at deep cover for 29 before catching Molineux at point and then bowling Beth Mooney.
