Southern Stars lock sights firmly on Ireland

The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars are pushing semi-finals calculations from their minds and focusing on the things they can control as they head into their final World T20 group match against Ireland, vice-captain Alex Blackwell says.

The Southern Stars must win their final match against Ireland on Saturday to keep their title defence alive, but even a victory in that match at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium on Saturday might not be enough to keep them in the tournament.

The dangerous South Africa loom with a superior run rate and two matches in hand – both to be played after Australia's final game – and should they manage an upset victory over New Zealand on Saturday night and finish off with a win over Sri Lanka on Monday, they could sneak into the semi-finals.

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With thunderstorms predicted for Delhi on Saturday, the weather also looms as a potential threat to Australia's hopes, but Blackwell said the Southern Stars would simply focus on the things they could control.

"We just have to make sure we win this game against Ireland and win it as well as we can," Blackwell said after Australian training on Friday.

"We can't really control anything apart from that.

"But anytime we go out there we want to win well, so I don't think it changes too many things for us."

Australia chased Sri Lanka's 8-123 in 17.4 overs on Thursday, which boosted their net run rate to 0.089, still below South Africa's 1.411 but with an extra win on the board.

Elyse Villani, who scored an unbeaten half-century in the win, said net run rate concerns hadn't changed the way she and skipper Meg Lanning went about their match-winning partnership.

"We didn't really talk about net run rate. We thought if needed, the message would be sent out to us, but there wasn't a message so we took ownership and wanted to finish the game together.

"If run rate is something we need to worry about, we'll be looking at that in the next game."

A similar scenario played out between the same three teams in the 2014 tournament.

Only that time, the Southern Stars dropped their first game (also against New Zealand) and, knowing net run rate would be decisive, romped to three emphatic victories in their next three matches.

The White Ferns also won their first three games last time, but when they unexpectedly dropped their final match to South Africa their poor net run rate cost them dearly, as they finished below the Proteas on the table and missed the finals.

It's a blow they haven't forgotten in a hurry – they have claimed three big wins this time around and not even a loss to South Africa in their last match will stop them advancing.

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One factor standing in Australia's factor on Saturday is their history of big wins against Ireland.

When the teams met in the 2014 tournament, the Southern Stars romped to a 75-run victory, led by a 65-ball 126 from Lanning.

Last year, they claimed a T20 clean sweep over Ireland, winning by margins of 25, 55 and 99 runs.

"The Irish team have kept improving over the years and we had a challenging series against them in Ireland recently," Blackwell said.

"I remember when Lanning hit that record 126 in 2014 and I was at other end watching.

"It was fantastic, so hopefully one of our top order can produce an innings like that.

"A big, 80-plus score would be something fantastic for us heading, hopefully, into the semi-finals."