The White Ferns have fallen to a five wicket loss to Australia in the opening T20 of their three-match series in Mackay.

Batting first New Zealand posted 143 for 7 with opener and captain Suzie Bates scoring 33 and Maddy Green top scoring with 35.

Seven Australian bowlers took one wicket each.

In reply, Australia lost their openers fairly cheaply and were reduced to 44 for 3, before an unbeaten 64 from Phoebe Litchfield and 26 from Georgia Wareham helped guide the hosts home with five wickets and eight balls to spare.

Molly Penfold was the pick of the White Ferns bowlers with two wickets, while Leigh Kasperek, Lea Tahuhu and Brooke Halliday took one each.

Molly Penfold.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Green said the White Ferns were largely happy with their performance, despite the defeat.

“I thought we put a competitive total on the board and we had a few different people standing up. Potentially ten to fifteen runs short but I think we were in the game for a fair chunk of the match.

“Obviously how Phoebe (Litchfield) played, she sort of took the game away from us and I think she was the difference today. Disappointing not to get the result but I think there’s certainly lots of positives to come out of the game,” Green said.

“I think we managed to put some positive partnerships through that middle phase of our batting innings. We just needed one of our batters to dominate in that innings and we saw that in the Australian’s they had Litchfield get a 50 and finish the game off and we didn’t have that in our innings.

“We just couldn’t break that partnership between Litchfield and Wareham and I think that was the difference.”

The second game is on Sunday, also in Mackay, with the third and final T20 of the series in Brisbane next Tuesday.

The women’s T20 World Cup is next month in the UAE, with six-times winners Australia the defending champions.