Tayla Vlaeminck took her first international wicket on Australian soil as Australia opened its summer of cricket with a 41-run win over Sri Lanka in Sydney on Sunday.
The Aussies posted 4-217 off their 20 overs, with Beth Mooney crunching 113 off 60 balls. In reply, Sri Lankan star Chamari Athapaththu smashed 113 off 66 balls to lift her side to 7-176 off 20 overs.
Bendigo's Vlaeminck tested Anushka Sanjeewani with some fast bowling and eventually the Sri Lankan number three edged a short ball through to keeper Alyssa Healy.
Vlaeminck's first spell was an economical 1-8 off two overs before Athapaththu took the long handle to the Strathdale product in her third over.
Vlaeminck finished with 1-26 off three overs - an encouraging performance ahead of game two on Monday and a huge summer of cricket.
"We will have to have a sit down and think about our plans against her," admitted Mooney when asked about how Australia could counter Athapaththu.
"She is a clean striker of the ball and can take a game away from the opposition as she has done in the past.
"In terms of what we are trying to do - be the best team in the world - is making sure we win matches like that instead of losing them. We got the wicket and pegged them back pretty nicely and we haven't always been able to do that in the past."
