Aussies unchanged, bat first against Pakistan

Australia are taking an unchanged XI into their final Commonwealth Games group match against Pakistan, as they look to build momentum ahead of the semi-finals.

Meg Lanning elected to bat first at Edgbaston after winning the toss and Australia can lock in top spot in Group A with victory over Pakistan, a side they have never lost to in any format.

They will then meet either England or New Zealand in Saturday’s semi-final for a spot in the gold medal match; both sides have also advanced to the knockout stage but will go head-to-head on Thursday evening to determine who claims top spot in Group B.

Australia opted for the same attack that secured wins over India and Barbados, leaving the quartet of Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Nicola Carey and Amanda-Jade Wellington on the sidelines.

Pakistan have made two changes to the side that lost to India by eight wickets on Sunday, with Aiman Anwar and Sadia Iqbal replacing Kainat Imtiaz and Anam Amin in the XI.

Star allrounder Nida Dar remained unavailable, having missed the India match due to concussion.

"Coming into what's going to be a pretty hectic finals weekend with the semi-finals and medal matches back-to-back, it’s extremely important (to have momentum)," Australia allrounder Tahlia McGrath told cricket.com.au on the eve of the match.

"Once we hit those finals, the round games are irrelevant and it's just whoever shows up on the day.

"Whatever four teams are going to be there are going to be quality sides, and anyone can beat anyone on the day with some sides having some extremely dangerous players.

"We have to be ready.

"We’re still fine tuning a bit. Every game we play, we're striving for a little bit of improvement … (but) we seem to be getting better and better every game."

Australia met Pakistan twice during the recent T20 tri-series in Ireland, but both matches were washed out before a result could be achieved.

The Australian attack restricted Pakistan to 8-94 in the second of those meetings and had them at 6-56 after eight overs when rain interrupted the first, but their batters have yet to get a good look at the spin-heavy Pakistan attack.

"They’ve got some quality bowlers, they’re definitely spin heavy but a couple of their seamers are quite handy as well," McGrath said.

"So we'll have to be at our best ... we've certainly spoken about some plans, but at the same time, we've also spoken about just playing to our strengths and backing our own games."

Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Tahlia McGrath, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Megan Schutt, Darcie Brown

Pakistan XI: Muneeba Ali Siddiqui (wk), Bismah Maroof (c), Iram Javed, Omaima Sohail, Ayesha Naseem, Aliya Riaz, Fatima Sana, Tuba Hassan, Diana Baig, Aiman Anwar, Sadia Iqbal

2022 Commonwealth Games

Australia's squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington

See all the Commonwealth Games cricket squads here

Group A: Australia, India, Pakistan, Barbados

Group B: England, New Zealand, South Africa, Sri Lanka

July 29: Australia beat India by three wickets

July 31: Australia beat Barbados by nine wickets

August 3: Australia v Pakistan (11am local, 8pm AEST)

Semi-finals: August 6, 11am local (8pm AEST) and 6pm local (3am Aug 7 AEST)

Bronze medal match: August 7, 10am local (7pm AEST)

Gold medal match: August 7, 5pm local (2am Aug 8 AEST)

All matches played at Edgbaston Stadium