We were 10-15 runs short of the par total, says Australia skipper Meg Lanning

New Zealand won the match by five wickets at the Allan Border Field, Brisbane, on Wednesday (September 30).

"I think, in hindsight, 10 or 15 more runs would be extremely difficult to get on sort of a fourth game wicket, considering we played our practice game on it as well. That was probably the difference, I guess," Lanning said during the post-match media interaction.

However, the Australian skipper said that at the halfway mark they felt confident about defending the total. "We thought it was defendable. At the halfway stage, we were still confident that we were in it. We knew we have to bowl well, but we thought we are in the contest."

The visitors chased down the total with three balls left, and it was Amelia Kerr's 10-ball 18 batting in the lower-order that helped the Kiwis taste their first victory on the tour. At the 15-over mark, the Kiwis were cruising towards the target, and Lanning brought back leg-spinner Georgia Wareham into the attack, who dismissed the well-set Katey Martin for 23. However, she did not bowl again in the death overs.

Lanning defended that strategy saying that the plan was to get a breakthrough with Wareham and then to bring back Megan Schutt, Jess Jonassen and Sophie Molineux to bowl the last four overs.

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"It sort of felt like a good opportunity to bring Schutter, JJ and Soph back into the game really and close the game down, which they have done really well for us over a long period of time."

The 28-year-old said that she was not surprised with the way New Zealand has bounced back after the initial losses, adding, "New Zealand are an extremely good side, and they have world-class players. We expect them to bounce back in every game we play. There is no surprise that they played well today."

Despite the defeat, Lanning felt that they are confident that they can take the positives from the series and do well in the 50-over format.

"I don't think it hurt our confidence too much. We have played some really good cricket over the first two days, especially, and over a long period of time. So, there is plenty that we learn from and improve on," she said

"We are looking forward to it. It is a format we play well and if we can execute pretty well, then we can get the result we want."

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On Jonassen's position in the batting order, Lanning said that the team values her ability to contribute with the bat, however, a lot depends on the match situations.

"We do have a lot of left-handers as well. She has shown over a period of time, especially through the WBBL that she is very handy with the bat, and can make significant contributions. So, I guess it's just getting that balance right. There is no reason why she couldn't bat up the order next time."

Going into the ODIs, Lanning said that they would take some time to reassess how the players have coped, in particular, the fast bowlers, and then would pick the best possible team they can for the first ODI.

"There might be a couple of changes depending on the format. We will work through that over the next couple of days, see who's fit and available. We would be picking our strongest team that's for sure," she concluded.

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