Cricket: White Ferns suffer another defeat by Australia

Australia have gone 2-0 up in the six-match Rosebowl Series after defeating the White Ferns by eight wickets in Hamilton yesterday.

Despite losing 69 minutes to a thunderstorm mid-innings, Australia were never really troubled, as they set about chasing the White Ferns' 152 for eight and eventually won with 11.1 overs to spare.

Australian No 3 batsman Karen Rolton once again dominated their innings. She has yet to be dismissed after two matches in the Rosebowl Series.

She backed up her unbeaten century in Auckland in the opening game on Wednesday with 60 not out off 108 balls, bringing up her 50 off 97 balls and sharing consecutive 50-run partnerships with Lisa Sthalekar and Melanie Jones.

Jones raced to 40 not out off 46 balls, including a lofted six off Rebecca Steele over square leg.

Despite the loss of captain Belinda Clark when Australia were on four, they were never under pressure, although they may have been feeling a little nervous when the thunderstorm and accompanying rain stopped play at 81 for one in the 23rd over.

For the game to be official, a minimum of 25 overs had to be bowled.

New Zealand captain Maia Lewis said that realistically there was little her bowling attack could do after the New Zealand innings faltered.

"We didn't have enough runs on the board, no one kicked on, and it was a tough ask for our bowlers to defend such a small total," she said.

"Full credit to the Australian bowlers, though. They were hard to score off and they stacked their fields well."

The White Ferns' coach, Mike Shrimpton, considered his team were 40 to 50 runs short in their innings, having won the toss.

The White Ferns must now win the remaining four matches in order to take the Rosebowl off Australia.

The third game in the series is in Hamilton tomorrow.