Who’s playing whom
New Zealand face Scotland in the first of the three games on Tuesday, starting at 10.30am local time (9.30am GMT), in Bristol. Both teams have two points from three matches and are meeting for the first time in international cricket. While Scotland have lost their last two games after winning their opener, New Zealand – currently third behind England and West Indies – bounced back from two defeats to keep their slim semi-final hopes alive. It’s a must-win encounter for the defending champions as another loss would all but end their campaign.
Team news and likely XIs
Sophie Devine missed the clash against Ireland due to illness, with New Zealand bringing in Suzie Bates for the first time in the tournament. If Devine is fit, Bates could make way again.
New Zealand (probable): 1 Georgia Plimmer, 2 Izzy Gaze (wk), 3 Melie Kerr (capt), 4 Brooke Halliday, 5 Maddy Green, 6 Izzy Sharp, 7 Suzie Bates, 8 Jess Kerr, 9 Nensi Patel, 10 Rosemary Mair, 11 Bree Illing
Scotland were forced to make changes against England, with Ailsa Lister and Rachel Slater sidelined by injuries. Pippa Sproul and Hannah Rainey came into the XIs as replacements.
Scotland (probable): 1 Darcey Carter, 2 Katherine Fraser, 3 Kathryn Bryce (capt), 4 Sarah Bryce (wk), 5 Megan McColl, 6 Priyanaz Chatterji, 7 Pippa Sproul, 8 Kirstie Gordon, 9 Chloe Abel, 10 Hannah Rainey/Rachel Slater, 11 Gabriella Fontenla
Sri Lanka could stick with the same side, with top-order batter Imesha Dulani, who replaced Hasini Perera, likely to retain her place.
Sri Lanka (probable): 1 Vishmi Gunaratne, 2 Chamari Athapaththu, 3 Imesha Dulan, 4 Harshitha Samarawickrama, 5 Kaveesha Dilhari, 6 Nilakshika de Silva, 7 Kaushini Nuthyangana, 8 Kawya Kavindi, 9 Sugandika Dasanayaka, 10 Nimasha Meepage, 11 Mithali Ayodhya
Ireland made one change for the match against New Zealand, bringing in Lara McBride for Alana Dalzell after the latter’s poor start to the tournament.
Ireland (probable): 1 Amy Hunter (wk), 2 Gaby Lewis (capt), 3 Orla Prendergast, 4 Rebecca Stokell, 5 Leah Paul, 6 Alice Tector, 7 Louise Little, 8 Arlene Kelly, 9 Aimee Maguire, 10 Cara Murray, 11 Lara McBride
Lucy Hamilton made her T20 World Cup debut against Netherlands and returned 0 for 13 from her four overs. She is likely to retain her place. Australia will also hope Beth Mooney, who retired hurt with back stiffness against Netherlands – later describing it as a precautionary measure – is fit to play. Phoebe Litchfield remains unavailable because of a quad injury, with the head coach Shelley Nitschke saying, “Potentially not Pakistan, but we’re hopeful we’ll see her for the India game”.
Australia (probable): 1 Beth Mooney (wk), 2 Georgia Voll, 3 Ellyse Perry, 4 Ash Gardner, 5 Georgia Wareham, 6 Nicola Carey, 7 Annabel Sutherland, 8 Sophie Molineux (capt), 9 Kim Garth, 10 Alana King, 11 Lucy Hamilton
Pakistan made two changes against Bangladesh, recalling left-arm seamer Tasmia Rubab and middle-order batter Saira Jabeen.
Pakistan (probable): 1 Gull Feroza, 2 Muneeba Ali (wk), 3 Ayesha Zafar, 4 Iram Javed, 5 Saira Jabeen, 6 Aliya Riaz, 7 Fatima Sana (Capt), 8 Tuba Hasan, 9 Tasmia Rubab, 10 Nashra Sandhu, 11 Sadia Iqbal
Players to watch
Pitch and conditions
Bristol has hosted only one match in the tournament so far, where Sri Lanka were bowled out for 98 against West Indies on Sunday. West Indies fielded four spinners, who combined to take seven wickets. Spin could once again play a significant role on Tuesday. It’s expected to be sunny, with temperatures reaching 33 degrees Celsius during the day.
The Australia-Pakistan fixture will be the final match of the tournament at Leeds, where partly sunny conditions are expected. Two of the four matches at this venue have seen teams breach the 200-mark. If overcast conditions develop, seamers could find assistance from the surface.
Quotes
“Momentum is really important in T20 cricket. Call it momentum, call it confidence. I think once you get your team with some confidence, then it’s a really good place to be.”
Shelley Nitschke, Australia coach, on their three wins
“You see a proper team culture when you lose games and there’s a different morale in the team. When you’re winning everyone’s happy, but it’s how you come together when you’re losing and it’s not going well for you and as a team we’ve been really good. We’ve stayed close. We know that we’re, as a unit, a pretty tight team. The experience of the older ones has really helped as well. Obviously, they’ve had a few World Cups, and not every World Cup’s the same. You can go from winning a World Cup last year to having a disappointing start.”
Izzy Sharp on NZ’s uphill climb
“New Zealand again are ranked above us. We can’t take them lightly. They’ve probably had some close games in this tournament so far, and we will be eyeing up to compete and hopefully win that game. Same with Sri Lanka. We have the potential to win the final two games in this group stage, and for us, the higher we can finish, the better, especially with qualification for the next World Cup coming up as well.”
Megan McColl on Scotland’s ambitions
“We would have liked a couple of lead-in games that weren’t quite as tough, but we knew that, and we knew we had to win one of our first two games, England and New Zealand. We were quite confident we could match it up with West Indies. So we achieved that (against New Zealand), and then we failed today (against West Indies) really badly.”
Jamie Siddons on where SL see themselves
“Even though we are eliminated, we are still in the competition; we have two matches left, so we will try to execute our plans, especially batting properly in those two matches and trying to rectify the mistakes we have been making in the last three games.”
Pakistan captain Muneeba Ali
Srinidhi Ramanujam is a sub-editor with Cricinfo
