Women’s Cricket World Cup: Australia v New Zealand – live

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3rd over: Australia 27-0 (Healy 17, Litchfield 10)

Illing returns for her second over of the day. There’s a big appeal for LBW on Healy on the first ball of over, but the umpire shakes her head – it looks to be going down leg. Illing cramps Healy up for another dot, but Healy soon finds a gap, splits the fielders and drives the ball pas deep cover to the boundary rope. Healy turns the strike over and Litchfield pounces with a stunning drive that flies over Plimmer in the field for four.

2nd over: Australia 18-0 (Healy 12, Litchfield 6)

Jess Kerr opens the bowling from the other end for NZ. She doesn’t quite hit her length first ball, but Healy can’t quite get under it and it’s played just past the bowler for a dot. But next ball, Healy finds a beautiful gap and gets her second boundary, before dabbing another away just behind her to turn the strike over. Licthfield comes down the pitch, using strong footwork to pick up her first boundary next ball. Kerr fights back with two dots to finish the over.

1st over: Australia 9-0 (Healy 7, Litchfield 2)

Bree Illing opens the bowling for NZ in her World Cup debut. Her first ball is a little short and Healy pulls it away strongly, but fortunately for Illing, it’s just a single. Litchfield gets off the mark with a single next ball as well. The two batters continue to turn the strike over for the next few balls, settling into the pace of the wicket and the rhythm of the left arm fast bowling of Illing. Healy gets the first boundary with a nice flick off her pads late in the over and it’s a strong start from the Australian pair.

Anthems are being played now, not long to go until the match is underway…

And here’s one from me on Australia’s generation next and what the future holds after this ‘end of an era’ that we’re currently witnessing.

If you feel like this World Cup has crept up on you and you’re not quite up to speed on what to expect, we’ve got you covered. You’ve got a bit of time before the first ball is bowled, so firstly check out this piece from Mrinal Asija about how the gap is closing between Australia and their rivals for the trophy.

Toss and teams

Australia has won the toss and will bat first.

Australia

1. Alyssa Healy (c, wk)

2. Phoebe Litchfield

3. Ellyse Perry

4. Beth Mooney

5. Annabel Sutherland

6. Ash Gardner

7. Tahlia McGrath

8. Sophie Molineux

9. Alana King

10. Kim Garth

11. Darcie Brown

New Zealand

1. Suzie Bates

2. Georgia Plimmer

3. Amelia Kerr

4. Sophie Devine (c)

5. Brooke Halliday

6. Maddy Green

7. Izzy Gaze (wk)

8. Jess Kerr

9. Lea Tahuhu

10. Eden Carson

11. Bree Illing

Preamble

Hello and welcome to what is shaping up to be an exciting and pivotal game in this World Cup between traditional rivals Australia and New Zealand. No matter the sport, these two always want to beat each other and that desire will be ramped up with both teams wanting to open their World Cup campaign with a bang.

It’s an interesting time, because both teams have players who have been stalwarts of their countries for a very long time, who are likely playing in their last ODI World Cup. For Australia, it is Alyssa Healy (35) and Ellyse Perry (34), while on the New Zealand side of the ledger, Sophie Devine (36), Suzie Bates (38) and Lea Tahuhu (35) who are unlikely to make push out their international careers for another four years. So there is extra motivation to ensure these legends of the game take home some silverware this time around.

When you look at the stats, Australia are the dominant team, with 102 wins to NZ’s 31 in the ODI format. In the past 10 years, NZ have only beaten Australia twice in ODIs, while Australia have won 17 times. However, NZ will be looking to replicate the form they found in last year’s T20 World Cup, where they took home the trophy, while Australia failed to make the final.

Both teams have exciting and skillful players by the bucketload, so it’s sure to be a cracking game. Thanks for joining us wherever you are around the world – let’s get into the match!