Aussies out to snap T20 drought

The T20 Tri-Series final will be broadcast in Australia on Fox Sports 3HD from 3.30pm AEDT while cricket.com.au will have live scores, news and highlights

Australia will look to finish the Commonwealth Bank Tour of India on a high note on Saturday by winning their first piece of 20-over silverware in two-and-a-half years.

Meg Lanning’s team will meet England in the final of the T20I tri-series at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium, with the ledger squared at one win apiece after the two teams met twice during the tournament's regular matches.

Australia’s last T20I series win came against Ireland way back in August 2015, with the Southern Stars suffering series losses to England (home and away), New Zealand (home and away) and India (home) since.

They also made the final of the most recent World T20 in 2016 only to be defeated by the West Indies and with another WT20 tournament looming this November, victory over England would be a welcome way for Australia to shake off their recent below-par results in the format.

“It would be a nice finish to our tour of India,” allrounder Jess Jonassen said on Friday.

“We’re hoping to put another consistent performance out there and back out plans and hopefully the result will take care of itself.

“It’s been a little while since we’ve had a T20 series win, so if we get over the line the girls will be really pleased with that.”

Australia head into the final in red-hot form having dropped just one match across the ODI and T20 formats since their arrival on the subcontinent almost a month ago.

They claimed emphatic victories over India and England in their two most recent matches and Jonassen now wants to see that momentum continue into the final.

“The girls are really confident at the moment, we’ve got a lot of players in form and everyone seems to be backing their skills," she said.

“That’s an exciting position to be in so hopefully we can do for that for one more game.”

Australia are sweating on the fitness of opener Beth Mooney, who sat out Wednesday’s game against England with a mild abdominal strain. She spent a short period of time in the nets on Friday, while vice-captain Rachael Haynes was a notable absentee from training due to illness.

But Jonassen is confident no matter who line up in the final XI, they’ll be able to adapt.

“We saw last game Ellyse Perry came up the order and did a really good job opening for us,” she said.

“And with Ash (Gardner) being a bit ill last game (and not batting at No.3), the girls were able to adapt on the spot.

“At any given stage of the match any of our batting unit will be able to do that, which is an exciting place for us to be in.

“I know not too long ago we could have potentially crumbled under those conditions.”

Good batting conditions throughout the tri-series – particularly early in the tournament – has seen three totals posted in excess of 180.

Jonassen said the pressure of bowling in those conditions had been a good test for the Australian attack.

“You almost have to take the ego out of it a little,” she said. “As a bowler you don’t like going for a lot of runs but on a field like this you have to expect that and not go into your shell too much.

“It’s almost expected that even your good balls can go for boundaries.

“Over the last few games that’s been a bit of an emphasis for us, the boundaries we do get hit for, we want them to come off our good balls and not poor deliveries.

“So it’s about bowling as many good balls as we can in the right areas and whatever happens outside of that is outside of our control.”

The T20 Tri-Series final will be broadcast in Australia on Fox Sports 3HD from 3.30pm AEDT while cricket.com.au will have live scores, news and highlights

Commonwealth Bank Tour of India

Australia T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (Captain), Smriti Mandhana (vice-captain), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia (wicket-keeper), Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rumeli Dhar, Mona Meshram.

England T20I squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Katie George, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Anya Shrubsole, Bryony Smith, Nat Sciver, Fran Wilson, Danni Wyatt

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by 321 runs. Report

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by seven wickets. Report

ODI series

First ODI Australia won by eight wickets. Scorecard

Second ODI Australia won by 60 runs. Scorecard

Third ODI Australia won by 97 runs. Scorecard

T20I tri-series

First T20I Australia defeated India by six wickets. Scorecard

Second T20I England defeated Australia by eight wickets. Scorecard

Third T20I England defeated India by seven wickets. Scorecard

Fourth T20I Australia defeated India by 36 runs. Scorecard

Fifth T20I Australia defeated England by eight wickets. Scorecard

Sixth T20I India defeated England by eight wickets. Scorecard

Final Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 31. Live Coverage