UNBEATEN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND GO HEAD TO HEAD
2 July 2017
Amy Satterthwaite insists a no-fear approach will be key as New Zealand looks to bring an end to in-form Australia’s winning streak at the ICC Women’s World Cup.
The two teams meet at the County Ground, Bristol on Sunday with both having enjoyed promising starts to the 2017 tournament.
New Zealand opened its campaign with a nine-wicket win over Sri Lanka before rain saw the match against South Africa abandoned on Wednesday without a ball being bowled.
Australia sits top of the standings having beaten both the West Indies and Sri Lanka by eight wickets.
The reigning champion has posted a combined total of 467 runs from its two matches for the loss of just four wickets with Nicole Bolton (107 not out) and Meg Lanning (152 not out) both reaching three figures.
But despite the current hot-streak of their opponents, Satterthwaite believes getting one over its rival can provide an invaluable boost to the side’s own chances of trying to improve on its fourth-place finish from four years ago.
“Australia is always a good team to play against. They’ve got a quality side and we’ve really enjoyed playing them at World Cups – historically, I think we’ve done pretty well,” she said.
“We’ll treat it like the next game and looking towards our plans for that as normal, but it’s always a good game to take on Australia.
“Anyone who plays against Australia, if they’re able to beat it, it’s a good feeling and would set a bit of a benchmark.
“You’ve still got to take each game as it comes but if we were able to beat Australia it would certainly be a good feeling.
“In some ways, it doesn’t matter who the opposition is at a World Cup. No matter who you play, you always go up another level at a World Cup and you really want to put your best performance out there.”
Australia has already shown it is not afraid of chasing down a seemingly daunting total with Lanning leading from the front on Thursday with her 11th international century to help her country record the highest successful ICC WWC run chase (262 for two inside 44 overs).
The team will be hoping for more of the same on Sunday as its returns to the same County Ground venue although captain Lanning – the top-ranked ODI batter in the world – is predicting a tough battle with New Zealand.
“It’s a nice batting ground here, it runs along the square very quickly and we’ve got New Zealand coming here which will be a good challenge for us,” she said.
“It is going along nicely in the tournament too so we are looking forward to that. It is always a good game against the Kiwis.
“We just have to stick to our standards that we have set. We are looking forward to it a lot, all the games against the Kiwis are always very tough and good battles.
“It has started off the tournament well so it’s going to be a good challenge for us but we have a couple days now to regroup and come back on Sunday.”
Squads:
Australia: Meg Lanning (captain), Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell, Nicole Bolton, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani and Amanda-Jade Wellington.
New Zealand: Suzie Bates (captain), Erin Bermingham, Sophie Devine, Maddie Green, Holly Huddleston, Leigh Kasperek, Amelia Kerr, Katey Martin, Thamsyn Newton, Katie Perkins, Anna Peterson, Rachel Priest, Hannah Rowe, Amy Satterthwaite and Lea Tahuhu
Umpires – Ahsan Raza and Jacqueline Williams
Match referee – David Jukes
