Maddy Green admits New Zealand are still chasing Australia despite beating their arch rivals by nine wickets in the lead-up to ICC Women’s ODI Cricket World Cup 2022.

In a pre-tournament warm-up match, Sophie Devine made 161 not out as the White Ferns chased down Australia’s total of 321 with ease, with Amelia Kerr also reaching 92 not out.

Australia are hoping to hold both the T20 and ODI World Cups at the same time, while they already top both the ICC ODI and T20 Team Rankings.

Green said: “I think any game in a World Cup is important, so I don’t think this game is any more or less important than the rest of the games for us.

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“I think Australia probably set the benchmark in women’s world cricket in the last few years and to get a win over them tomorrow would put us in an excellent position.

“But we’re just taking each game as it comes at the moment, but certainly every game we’re going out there looking to win so it doesn’t change too much for us.”

H2H: NZ 3-12 AUS at ICC Women's CWC

Result Margin Ground Start Date
AUS won 35 runs Dartford 7 Jul 1973
AUS won 66 runs Jamshedpur 1 Jan 1978
AUS won 8 wickets New Plymouth 16 Jan 1982
AUS won 69 runs Wellington 28 Jan 1982
AUS won 41 runs Rangiora 6 Feb 1982
AUS won 46 runs Canberra 7 Dec 1988
AUS won 75 runs Melbourne 10 Dec 1988
NZ won 10 wickets Beckenham 29 Jul 1993
AUS won 5 wickets Kolkata 29 Dec 1997
AUS won 6 wickets Lincoln 29 Nov 2000
NZ won 4 runs Lincoln 23 Dec 2000
AUS won 32 runs Pretoria 24 Mar 2005
NZ won 13 runs Sydney 8 Mar 2009
AUS won 7 wickets Cuttack 5 Feb 2013
AUS won 5 wickets Bristol 2 Jul 2017

After Suzie Bates had a fairytale first New Zealand match on her home ground of Dunedin, hitting 79 not out to defeat Bangladesh, her fellow Otago native Katey Martin will play her 100th ODI match for the White Ferns.

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Martin made her ODI debut against India in 2003 and is the only member of New Zealand’s World Cup squad to have played a Test match.

The wicketkeeper-batter will bring up a century of ODI appearances for the White Ferns tomorrow at the Basin Oval while Kerr will reach 50 caps at her home ground.

“I think Katey’s been playing in this team for 18 years, so it’s really special for her. I think the way that she’s been performing in the last few games as well is just really pleasing for her,” she said.

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“She’s a quality player and I know that she’s been such a great servant to the team not just on the field but what she brings off the field and her energy and enthusiasm and how she gets around the girls.

“She’s such a fantastic human, so to see her get 100 games for New Zealand, it’s a really proud moment for her and her family and they’re going to be in the crowd tomorrow watching.

“And Amelia to play her 50th game against Australia at the Basin - I’m not sure it gets much bigger than that. She’s such a talented cricketer only 21, 50 games, I can’t wait to see what she does in the next 50 as well.”

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The titanic match-up marks Wellington’s debut game at an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup and with strong winds expected, Australia have some selection headaches.

Ashleigh Gardner has rejoined the squad after isolating due to Covid while Tahlia McGrath is back available for selection after missing the Pakistan win with a sore heel.

Captain Meg Lanning said: “I’m not sure who’s playing yet. We’re going to have a look at the wicket this afternoon and work out what our best lineup is.

“We will work through that this afternoon and this evening. Ash Gardener joined us this morning, after her isolation period, and we’ll see how she goes out at training today and if she’s fit and feeling well, she’ll come in.

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“Then Tahlia McGrath also trained yesterday and is looking really good, so she’ll be available for selection. We’ve got pretty much a full squad to pick from which is really exciting and it will come down to match-ups and conditions which we’ll have a look at this afternoon.”

Content courtesy: ICC Business Corporation FZ LLC 2020 via Online Media Zone.

Stat nuggets

  • Match 11 of this year’s tournament will be the 16th meeting between New Zealand and Australia in an ICC Women’s World Cup. Australia have the upper hand in the historical head-to-head battle, winning 12 of these 15 encounters compared to New Zealand’s three. 
  • They have also played 117 ODIs between them excluding the World Cups. Australia hold the historical edge, winning on 77 occasions (lost 28, tie 1, NR 1). They last played a three-match bilateral series in April 2021, and it was won by Australia 3-0.
  • Suzie Bates needs 123 more runs to become only the fourth batter to score 5,000 runs in Women’s ODI history. 
  • Suzie Bates and Amy Satterthwaite need two more runs to become only the second pair in history to reach 500 runs in partnership at ICC Women’s World Cups, after Belinda Clark and Lisa Keightley. 
  • Alyssa Healy is four stumpings away from overtaking Julia Price (30) to hold the record for most stumpings by an Australian in Women’s One Day Internationals. 
  • Rachael Haynes is 35 runs away from becoming the fastest Australian to reach 500 ICC Women’s World Cup runs. 
— via ICC / Sportradar