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Australia has battled to a win in a warm-up match for the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, beating India by 44 runs in a low-scoring clash in Cape Town.
- Alyssa Healy kept wickets but did not bat amid her injury comeback
- Australia's top scorer was number nine Georgia Wareham with 32
- The team faces Ireland in another warm-up on Wednesday before starting its World Cup against New Zealand on Sunday
The defending champions could only manage 8-129 from their 20 overs on a worn Newlands pitch, but bowled India out for a paltry 85 to secure victory.
Perhaps the best news for the Aussies was the partial return of Alyssa Healy, who is continuing her comeback from a calf injury suffered in India in December.
Healy did not bat but she kept wickets in the match, with both teams carrying extra players on the bench to give as many people a hit-out as possible ahead of the tournament proper getting underway on Saturday morning (AEDT).
The warm-up match did not start well for Australia, which lost 3-10 in the first four overs, with captain Meg Lanning (0), ICC T20 player of the year Tahlia McGrath (2) and star all-rounder Ellyse Perry (1) all back in the sheds.
But opener Beth Mooney and Ash Gardner put on 44 runs for the fourth wicket to somewhat stabilise the innings.
Another flurry of wickets came after Gardner was removed by Pooja Vastrakar, with Australia losing 4-25 in six overs, before bowlers Jess Jonassen and Georgia Wareham put together the biggest partnership of the day for the ninth wicket.
Number nine Wareham clattered 32 off 17, while number 10 Jonassen hit 22 off 14 to drag Australia to its 20-over total of 129.
India's chase never got out of first gear, losing 4-22, with none of their top four of Jemimah Rodrigues, Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana and Richa Ghosh scoring more than five.
Deepti Sharma top-scored with 19 off 22 but the next highest contributor to India's total was Australia's extras tally of 18.
Seamer Darcie Brown took 4-17 in three overs as India was all out for 85 after 16 overs.
The South Australian removed Verma, Mandhana and Ghosh in her first two overs before getting Anjali Sarvani caught and bowled to end the innings..
Gardner (2-16), Kim Garth (1-12), Perry (1-22) and Jonassen (1-2) were also in the wickets.
Australia faces Ireland in another warm-up match on Wednesday before starting its World Cup defence against New Zealand on Sunday morning (AEDT).