NZ's Devine asks Australia to bat first as both sides start T20 World Cup campaign

Posted By on February 11, 2023

Toss: New Zealand opt to bowl vs Australia

Five-time T20 World Cup champions Australia will begin their title defense by batting first after New Zealand captain Sophie Devine won the toss and chose to bowl in Paarl. Australia captain Meg Lanning said she wouldn’t have minded either decision at the toss.
The two teams last met at the 2022 Commonwealth Games semi-final where Australia won the knockout in the final over. They are playing on the same strip as the afternoon fixture where England demolished West Indies.
New Zealand had a couple of injury concerns coming into the game, with Devine managing an injury to her foot, but the allrounder started. Also starting is Fran Jonas, who returns from a calf injury sustained while at the Under-19 T20 World Cup.

Australia come into this T20 World Cup having lost just one match – and that was via a Super Over against India – since the start of January 2022 and 14 of those 18 matches were played away from home.

After their bronze-medal finish at the Commonwealth Games last year, New Zealand have been busy, with positive results coming into the World Cup. They downed West Indies 4-1, including a Super Over triumph at home, before blanking Bangladesh 3-0 in December.

New Zealand XI: 1 Sophie Devine (capt.), 2 Suzie Bates, 3 Bernadine Bezuidenhout (wk), 4 Amelia Kerr, 5 Maddy Green, 6 Hannah Rowe, 7 Hayley Jensen, 8 Lea Tahuhu, 9 Jess Kerr, 10 Eden Carson, 11 Fran Jonas.

Australia XI: 1 Alyssa Healy (wk), 2 Beth Mooney, 3 Meg Lanning (capt.), 4 Ashleigh Gardner, 5 Ellyse Perry, 6 Tahlia McGrath, 7 Grace Harris, 8 Jess Jonassen, 9 Alana King, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Darcie Brown.

Sreshth Shah is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @sreshthx

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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