Australia takes on New Zealand side emboldened by big win over India

Australia made light work of New Zealand last month in a 3-0 series win in Mackay to continue a winning streak against the Kiwis that stretched more than three years.

But they loom as a different prospect in Wednesday morning’s T20 World Cup clash after ending a horror form slump to trounce India, leaving Australian gun Sophie Molineux in no doubt the reigning champs won’t have things all their own way again.

Molineux said the Kiwis, who have lost their past nine matches against Australia, played “out of their skin” to beat India, a victory that “opens up the tournament”.

Having won their opening match against Sri Lanka, the Australians could go a long way to locking in a semi-final berth with a second-up win, but Molineux knows that won’t be easy.

“Obviously, they played out of their skin and really attacked the Indian team,” she said.

“So I think the way we’ll approach it won’t be too dissimilar to how we approach every game, and that’s to come out with intensity.

“Obviously, the conditions are very different to where we played them back in Australia.

“But again it’s just about adapting, and they’ve obviously had a really good win, so they’re going to come in on a high, and hopefully we can carry on our momentum as well.”

Australian seamer Megan Schutt was among the heroes in the opening victory, taking three wickets.

But even she conceded the increasingly slower wickets in both Sharjah, and Dubai could bring spinners like Molineux to the fore as the tournament goes on.

“As this whole tournament progresses, it’ll be really interesting to see the spinners take hold a little bit more,” she said.

“But I think pace still has a big important role to play, and being able to move the ball early is still what I’m going to try and do, and it’s just about adapting to conditions if that doesn’t happen.”

Having played in the day in their opening match, the Australians will play their remaining pool games at night, which Schutt said would be a welcome condition change to adapt to.

“We were pretty nervous to play at 2pm,” she said.

“In terms of the heat, I think we handled that really well, probably worked ourselves up a little bit more than what it was out there, the breeze was lifesaving.

“I think we’ve acclimatised nicely to that and now we move into night games which will be much more pleasant.”