Australia v New Zealand: All you need to know

Match Facts

Who: Australia v New Zealand 

When: Tuesday October 8, 6pm local time (Coin toss at October 9, 12.30am AEDT, first ball at 1am AEDT) 

Where: Sharjah Cricket Stadium, United Arab Emirates

How to watch: Prime Video

Officials: Suzanne Redfern, Vrinda Rathi (standing umpires), Anna Harris (third), Sarah Dambanevana (fourth) 

Live scores: Australia v New Zealand match centre

World Cup standings 

 

The scenario

New Zealand started their World Cup campaign with a 58-run upset in over India on Friday, which broke Group A wide open. It snapped their 10-game losing streak and will no doubt give them plenty of confidence coming into this game.

Australia were good without being perfect in their opener against Sri Lanka, keeping them to 7-93 and recovering from 3-35 in the Powerplay to chase the target in 14.2 overs.

As a reminder, here are Australia's Group A fixtures: 

October 5: beat Sri Lanka by six wickets

October 8: v New Zealand, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 9 AEDT

October 11: v Pakistan, Dubai International Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 12 AEDT

October 13: v India, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 14 AEDT

The squads

Australia: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ash Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

Players used: 11

Australia opted for Darcie Brown over fellow quick Tayla Vlaeminck and spin bowling options Alana King and Grace Harris for their World Cup opener against Sri Lanka. After a few injury concerns coming into the World Cup, they should have a full 15 to pick from against New Zealand.

New Zealand: Sophie Devine (c), Suzie Bates, Eden Carson, Izzy Gaze, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Fran Jonas, Leigh Kasperek, Jess Kerr, Melie Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Lea Tahuhu 

Players used: 11

Pace bowler Rosemary Mair returned to the White Ferns’ squad following a back injury sustained against England early in the year, while Sophie Devine and Suzie Bates are playing in their ninth consecutive T20 World Cup.

How to watch

The new era for watching World Cup cricket in Australia continues.

All 23 matches of the tournament will be shown live on Amazon's Prime Video online subscription streaming service after the internet giant recently acquired the Aussie broadcast rights for all ICC events for the next four years. There is no free-to-air Australian broadcast of this World Cup as a result.

You can sign up to Prime Video by clicking here. 

How to recap

If you can’t catch the match live, you can catch on-demand highlights packages on Prime Video.

The rest of the information you need will be right here on cricket.com.au: scores, recaps, interviews and highlights will all review what took place and keep you informed on the key takeaways. 

Local knowledge

 

Four matches have now been played at the ground at this early stage of the tournament, across two different pitches.

It’s not yet clear which pitch will be in use on Tuesday, but so far both have been low and slow – the first more so than the second, which did offer some early bounce for Australia’s Megan Schutt. 

Both teams who have won the toss in the night games have chosen to bat first expecting dew, but so far none has eventuated. 

New Zealand will have to quickly freshen up on the conditions at Sharjah, given their four T20Is at the venue were against Pakistan back in 2017. 

Possible starting XIs

Australia: Alyssa Healy (c)(wk), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Annabel Sutherland, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Tayla Vlaeminck 

Darcie Brown bowled just one over against Sri Lanka and had an unfortunate issue with her run up that resulted in three no balls. Australia have tended to switch her and Tayla Vlaeminck in and out of the XI regardless, so Vlaeminck could come in to play New Zealand. Depending on which pitch is in use, they could also swap a quick for an additional spinner in Alana King or allrounder Grace Harris. 

New Zealand: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (c), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Izzy Gaze (wk), Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Lea Tahuhu, Eden Carson

Georgia Plimmer produced a brilliant 34 off 23 at the top of the order against India, justifying New Zealand’s call to keep her at the top, and Sophie Devine hit fifty in the same game, at No.4. Quicks Rosemary Mair and Lea Tahuhu shared seven wickets between them, but you would expect Amelia Kerr and Eden Carson to have more of a say in Sharjah – and Fran Jonas and Leigh Kasperek could potentially both come into the XI as extra spinners.

Players to watch

Megan Schutt and Ashleigh Gardner bowled back-to-back maidens to hand Australia a perfect start against Sri Lanka and the pair could have a significant influence against New Zealand as well. Both have excellent records against the White Ferns, averaging 15.48 and 15.28 respectively.

Devine struck form against India and was devastating in her 57no from 36 deliveries. The conditions in Sharjah will be trickier for the batters than Dubai, however, and this opens the door for New Zealand’s excellent trio of spinners. Kerr is rightfully a superstar, but off-spinner Carson is another to watch for. Carson claimed the big wickets of Shafali Verma and Smriti Mandhana against India and could be a handful in Sharjah.

Recent form

Past 10 T20 matches, most recent first. W: win, L: loss, N: no result  

Australia: WWWWWWWWLW

Australia started their World Cup with a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Sharjah. That continues their eight-game winning streak that included clean sweeps in their past two bilateral T20I series against New Zealand and Bangladesh. Their last defeat in the format was a historic first loss to South Africa during their multi-format series in January. 

New Zealand: WLLLLLLLLL

New Zealand thrashed India by 58 runs in their first game of the World Cup and they could not have asked for a better time to snap what had been a record 10-game losing streak. 

Last time they met

You don’t have to look back far – the trans-Tasman rivals met in a three-game T20I series in Mackay and Brisbane late last month. Australia were scratchy coming out of a long off-season and were challenged at times, but ultimately walked away with three comfortable wins.

Head-to-head

Played: 51

Australia wins: 28

New Zealand wins: 21

Ties: 1; No result: 1 

Rapid stats

• Australia have won 13 of their last 15 T20Is against New Zealand including their last five in a row. Six of their last nine wins against the White Ferns have come after they’ve lost the toss.
  
  
• Australia have won their last three games against New Zealand at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup after winning only one of their first four games against the White Ferns at the tournament. The last time they lost to them at the tournament was in 2016.
  
  
• Australia have won their last eight consecutive women’s T20Is, winning by at least five wickets or 50 runs in all but one of those victories.
  
  
• Australia are also on a 12-game winning run in the T20 World Cup which is the longest winning streak of any team in the history of the competition.
  
  
• This will be New Zealand’s fifth T20I at Sharjah Cricket Stadium; they won all four games against Pakistan in 2017.
  
  
• Australia have lost only four of their last 28 women’s T20I fixtures away from home, and have only had one unsuccessful run chase away from home (vs England in July 2023) in the format since the beginning of 2020.
  
  
• Tahlia McGrath (981) is 19 runs shy of reaching 1,000 scored in T20Is, a feat reached by only seven players previously for Australia’s women.
  
  
• Alyssa Healy (2,991) is nine away from becoming the second player to score 3,000 runs for Australia in women’s T20Is.

Where to next?

Australia will get their first look at Dubai International Stadium when they meet Pakistan on Friday October 11. That game kicks off at 6pm local time (1am Saturday October 12 AEDT). New Zealand’s next engagement is against Sri Lanka in Sharjah at 2pm local time on October 12 (9pm AEDT).

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Australia's Group A fixtures

October 5: beat Sri Lanka by six wickets

October 8: v New Zealand, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 9 AEDT

October 11: v Pakistan, Dubai International Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 12 AEDT

October 13: v India, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 14 AEDT

Finals

October 17: Semi-final 1, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 18 AEDT

October 18: Semi-final 2, Dubai International Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 19 AEDT

October 20: Final, Dubai International Cricket Stadium, 1am Oct 21 AEDT

For the full list of fixtures click here. All matches live and exclusive on Prime Video. Sign up here for a 30-day free trial