Win Over India A Step Towards T20 WC Title: Sophie Devine

Ahead of an all-important clash against Australia in the ongoing ICC T20 Women’s World Cup on Tuesday, New Zealand Women opener Suzie Bates said that they have competed “pretty well” in recent times against the defending champions.

The White Ferns started their tournament with a bang, beating India to set up the prospect of qualifying for the knockout stages from a highly competitive Group A. But second up for the Kiwis is a match against Australia, who beat them 3-0 in a T20I series in the run-in to the tournament.

“We’ve played them a lot over the years, not so much recently, but I thought we competed pretty well in those games. After the start we’ve had at this tournament, I think if we can put that performance that we put together against India, against Australia, we’re going to go really well. So, we’re just really excited,” Suzie Bates said in the pre-match press conference as quoted by the ICC.

“I think, to start this tournament on that positive note and to have Australia next up we’ve got two pretty tough games first up and we’re feeling really good about where we are at. Those games that happened before don’t really matter in a World Cup, but we know them really well in terms of our planning and preparation,” the opener added.

There will be plenty of familiarity between the two sides, although Bates did say that the recent series loss won’t give the teams all of the information they need, partially due to the contrasting conditions.

“I think we were still sort of figuring out our best 11 and the makeup of the team and obviously conditions there versus here, spinners versus seam, the balance of the team is slightly different. We probably didn’t show all our cards and they probably didn’t show all their cards, but at the end of the day, when the teams have already played a game, you kind of know what you’re probably going to be up against and it’s really about the balance of seam and spin,” the right-hand batter said.

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(With inputs from ANI)