Aussies set for heavyweight battle

Australia face their toughest challenge of the Women’s World Cup to date on Sunday when they take on hosts England at Bristol’s County Ground.

England have won three matches on the trot since their shock loss to India on the opening day of the tournament, while Australia are undefeated after four matches.

The clash between the tournament heavyweights has sold out, with a large crowd expected to see the top-two ranked nations go head to head.

“We've had a reasonable run against them in one-day cricket over the last couple of years,” Australia head coach Matthew Mott said ahead of Australia’s return to Bristol, where they’ve already played two of their group games.

“It'll be a hell of a game and we're really looking forward to it.”

The game is shaping as a battle of the batters, after 678 runs were scored on the Bristol pitch when England met South Africa on Wednesday.

The Ashes rivals boast the two strongest batting line-ups in the World Cup, with Australia led by world No.1 batter Meg Lanning, alongside the in-form Nicole Bolton, with both players scoring tons since the start of the tournament.

They’ve been backed up by strong performances from Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Elyse Villani and Alyssa Healy, who’ve all passed fifty at least once.

Meanwhile, four England batters have scored centuries this tournament – Natalie Sciver, Heather Knight, Sarah Taylor and Tammy Beaumont – and the hosts have posted the two highest totals to date – their 7-377 against Pakistan and 5-373 against South Africa.

“They're a very good team, we've had great battles with them over the last couple of years,” Mott said.

“They're a side that's rebuilt really well and I think they're playing a really attacking brand of cricket.

“We'll have some plans and hopefully be able to execute them pretty well.”

Australia will be sweating on the fitness of captain Lanning, who sat out Wednesday’s win over Pakistan due to a chronic shoulder injury.

Mott said he was hopeful the skipper would return for the crucial clash, which could play a major role in determining semi-final match-ups.

“We’re very hopeful,” he said.

“We’re taking it game by game in terms of management but for us, Kate will assess her tomorrow, we'll give her a couple of days off training still.

“Then as we lead into England she'll get back into training and we'll see how she pulls up.

“It is quite painful, so the less we can aggravate that the better.”

Seamer Megan Schutt also sat out Wednesday’s game, with Australia looking to manage her workload during the demanding group stage, but the South Australian is expected to return on Sunday.

But Mott did not divulge whether there would be any other changes to Australia’s XI.

“We'll spend the next couple of days making sure everyone's right getting over a few niggles and get ready for England,” Mott said.

“We really have isolated every game and tried to pick our teams according to the opposition we're playing against.

“We've reflected that with some of our selections where players in form have missed out because we feel that some players can match up better against the opposition and the grounds we're playing on.

“So we'll continue to do that.”

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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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