New Zealand wins to a seven-wicket over Sri Lanka in the Women's T20 World Cup

New Zealand skipper Sophie Devine lead from the front to help her side start the T20 World Cup on a winning note against Sri Lanka in Perth on Saturday. Devine's unbeaten 75 guided New Zealand to a 7-wicket win over Sri Lanka with 14 balls to spare in their Group A match.

Sri Lanka, who were put into bat first by New Zealand, had a dismal batting show apart from their captain Chamari Atapattu. Sri Lanka at one stage were 87 for 2 but the middle-order collapse held them to a very ordinary total of 127.

Favoured New Zealand battled chasing 128



against Sri Lanka until Devine capitalised on two dropped chances en route to a match-winning unbeaten 75.

After a nervous start, Devine found support through Maddy Green in a 61-run third-wicket partnership to power New Zealand to victory with 14 balls to spare.

"You always want points in the bank early in the tournament and we knew how hard Sri Lanka were going to come at us," Devine told reporters.

New Zealand still faces a battle to reach the semi-finals with tough matches against India and Australia ahead.