England need a victory; a must-win encounter for Australia to keep hopes alive  

After a batting debacle in their last two matches, India produced an outstanding display from the top-order led by openers Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana to stun hosts Australia successfully chasing a 174-run target in the penultimate round-robin encounter of the ongoing T20 tri-series on Saturday (February 8) in Melbourne.

For the record, it was the third-highest successful chase in Women’s T20Is and India’s highest, and in the process have made the last group encounter between Australia and England on Sunday (February 9) a do-or-die fixture for the hosts.

The win had put India at second with four points, same as that of table-toppers England. Australia lies at bottom with two points and a win for the hosts will put all the three teams on four points bringing in net run-rate to come into play as which two sides proceed to the final. And if England win, then it’s them and India who will play the February 12 summit clash.

Australia have struggled with their starts all through the series, with not even a single 50-run partnership from the openers in any of their three games. Although Beth Mooney has a half-century in her name, her opening partner Alyssa Healy definitely needs to sit with the coaching staff to find a way out. Ashleigh Gardner, fresh from a 93-run knock against India, will hope to carry her momentum with the likes of Ellyse Perry, skipper Meg Lanning and Rachel Haynes contributing in bits and pieces.

However, Lanning defended her batters and said they will get better against England. “I thought we batted reasonably well. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a set batter in the last few overs. We’ll recuperate as we usually do and look to play better tomorrow,” said Lanning after their loss against India on Saturday.

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On a bowling front, only two Australians Perry and young Tayla Vlaeminck feature in the top 10 of the bowlers’ list in the series. Pace spearhead Megan Schutt has only three wickets to her name in the series and the management will definitely want their bowling department to click as a whole against the strong England batting line-up.

Meanwhile, England have bounced back really well after their loss in the tournament opener against the Indians. They won against Australia via Super Over before getting better over the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side on Friday (February 7). The likes of Natalie Sciver and skipper Heather Knight have risen up to the occasion whenever needed while the Sophie Ecclestone and Anya Shrubsole have shown consistency with the ball.

Like the Australians, England too struggled with the form of their openers as neither Amy Jones nor Danielle Wyatt has crossed the 20-run mark in any of the matches. While the T20 World Cup is just few days away, Sunday's game against the Oz gives both Jones and Wyatt a final competitive chance to rework on their game.    

Squads:

England: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Amy Jones, Danielle Wyatt, Natalie Sciver, Katherine Brunt, Georgia Elwiss, Sophie Ecclestone, Freya Davies, Anya Shrubsole, Lauren Winfield, Sarah Glenn, Kate Cross, Mady Villiers, Fran Wilson.

Australia: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner, Meg Lanning (c), Ellyse Perry, Rachael Haynes, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Megan Schutt, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Erin Burns, Tayla Vlaeminck.