Bowling, fielding not up to scratch: Lanning

Australia captain Meg Lanning admits her team have work to do with the ball and in the field ahead of Sunday's crucial Women's World Cup clash with New Zealand.

Lanning's team had few answers for Chamari Athapaththu on Thursday as the Sri Lankan No.3 blasted an unbeaten 178 from 143 deliveries, helping her team to 9-157.

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And while the next highest score from the Sri Lankans was Shashikala Siriwardena's 24, there were also some uncharacteristic mishaps in the field including a dropped catch, while 19 extras were conceded.

"I don't think we did as well as we would have liked, in the field and with the ball it wasn't up to the standard we like, but that's not taking anything away from Athapaththu," Lanning said.

"She put lot of pressure our bowlers and any time we didn't execute, she put us away, so certainly there are a lot of lessons to learn."

With a tough task looming against No.3 ranked New Zealand on Sunday, Australia will have the benefit of remaining in Bristol as they prepare for a match which could prove decisive in the battle for semi-finals.

Australia have had the edge over New Zealand in ODIs of late, winning both of their last two one-day series 2-1.

But Lanning is under no illusions that it'll be easy going against a line-up that possesses the likes of Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine.

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"We've just got to stick to our processes and stick to the standards we've set," Lanning said.

"We're looking forward to it, all our games against the Kiwis are always very tough and good battles.

"They've started off the tournament well so it'll be a good challenge for us, but we've got a couple days now to regroup and come back hard on Sunday."

And while Athapaththu made the Australians work hard in the field, Lanning said it was never going to be easy going in conditions tailor-made for batting.

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"At the moment the wickets and grounds are pretty conducive to scoring runs," she said.

"Once you get any width out there you feel like you can free your hands and it runs away pretty quickly.

"It's harsh on the bowlers and I think it is very difficult to do consistently well.

"It'll be interesting to see how the pitches play through the tournament, I think we'll be using the same ones along the way, so it might bring the bowlers back into it a little bit as the tournament goes on."

One added tool Lanning might have at her disposal against New Zealand is the off-spin of Nicole Bolton. 

Bolton had never bowled a ball in international cricket until Thursday, but it took just three deliveries for her to claim her maiden wicket – with an appropriately over-the-top celebration – and she followed up with a second to finish with 2-18 from three overs.

"She carried on a little bit, didn't she?" Lanning laughed.

"She did the full circle. It was a split-second decision to bring her on, I don't think Schutter was very happy when I told her she wasn't bowling that over.

"We needed to chop and change a little bit, Athapaththu was playing really well so I couldn't let them settle too much.

"We've got some good options within our bowling attack and sometimes it's a little bit different but I think you've got to be able to do that and adapt as you go."

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Australia World Cup squad: Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell (vc), Nicole Bolton, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Meg Lanning (c), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington.

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