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England's Lydia Greenway (pictured left) and Charlotte Edwards hit a 66-run partnership but came up short in the run chase. (Getty Images: Stefan Gosatti)
The Australian women's cricket team has beaten England by 33 runs under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-effected opening match at the WACA.
The Southern Stars made 7 for 194 from 44 overs, with Alex Blackwell (42 from 69) and Lea Poulton (39 from 57) top scoring for the hosts.
England's Jennifer Gunn (3 for 28) and Danielle Hazell (1 for 25) helped restrict the run rate, but their efforts were not backed up by the visitors' other bowlers, who leaked runs freely.
Chasing a revised target of 185 from 39.3 overs, Charlotte Edwards (50 from 85) and Lydia Greenway (26 from 53) shared in a well-paced 66 run partnership for the third wicket.
But no wag in the tail followed as England's run chase petered out to 9 for 151 before rain started again in the 40th over.
Australia responded with a more disciplined team bowling effort, with Lisa Sthalekar (2 for 28) and Shelley Nitschke (2 for 30) pegging the run rate down to see off England's chase.
After the match, Nitschke - who also scored 26 in Australia's innings - said her team were pleased to start the three-match series so well.
"It was first of all nice to get the series started and then to have a win was excellent for us and hopefully we can continue this form and this momentum through the rest of the series," she said.
"We would have liked a few more runs but we had a lot of contributors with the bat which was really good and hopefully that's a good sign moving forward.
"We'll take some confidence out of this win. We were in England a couple of years ago and had a pretty ordinary series against them, so hopefully we can keep this momentum and continue to improve.
"[Rene] Farrell and [Ellyse] Perry bowled really well at the start, especially Rene, she moves the ball quite a bit and it was quite humid out there and those conditions really assisted her.
"Our girls did a really good job and used the conditions extremely well early, they probably just needed a bit more luck."
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