England shrug off Aussie shock

London:

Australia's women rescued national pride with a morale-boosting five-run win over old enemy England in a warm-up match for the women's World Twenty20.

But England, the recently-crowned 50-over world champions, shrugged off the defeat on the eve of the competition proper which starts in Taunton on Thursday.

Australia made 142-5, with Leah Poulton hitting 66, before pace bowler Ellyse Perry took three of the top four English batsmen to finish with 3-16 while spinner Lisa Sthalekar claimed 3-14 as England closed on 137-9.

"Our middle order didn't perform as well as I wanted but there were some solid performances," said England coach Mark Lane.

"We've had such a successful time everyone wants to beat us. We have to make sure that we don't ever have a bad day. Today wasn't a bad day, it was an average day."

Australia captain Karen Rolton played down the significance of the result.

"The result didn't really bother me," said Rolton.

Australia are in Pool A with New Zealand, West Indies and South Africa in the women's tournament while Pool B is made up of England, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

In other warm-ups, New Zealand beat India by 17 runs with skipper Aimee Watkins making 60.

New Zealand made 123-5 before India stumbled to 106-9 in reply.

South Africa defeated Pakistan by 36 runs, with opener Trisha Chetty making 45 in a total of 126-7. Pakistan then collapsed to 90 all out.

West Indies beat Sri Lanka by 40 runs. The Caribbean side reached 121 before Sri Lanka managed just 81-8.