T20 World Cup: Aussies confident despite facing sudden death

The Australian women head to Junction Oval on Monday knowing they must beat New Zealand to make the finals.

Alyssa Healy hits out against Bangladesh on her way to 83 and a record 151-run partnership with Beth Mooney on Thursday in Canberra. Picture: Getty Images

The Australian women head to Junction Oval on Monday knowing they must beat New Zealand to make the finals. Lose and it is over.

Star Ellyse Perry has faced five balls for as many runs, but the team is growing in confidence having faced its fears in the most recent match.

Australia were confident and dominant in the win over Bangladesh on Thursday night. Analysis showed a batting unit willing to use its feet and get down the wicket to the slow and slower subcontinental bowling.

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The change is important given the character of the tournament. India ambushed the local side in the first game, their bowlers bowling so slowly it confounded the Australians who had time for decisions and revisions while waiting for the ball to arrive.

Playing on pitches worn down over the summer has encouraged all sides to take pace off the ball and the loss to India planted a seed in opponent’s minds about how to beat the hosts.

The Australians had a truth and honesty session about their batting in the lead-up to the Bangladesh game.

Alyssa Healy (83) and Beth Mooney (81no) put on a record 151-run partnership that set the stage for the resounding victory and again denied Perry any time at the crease.

“As a batting group we spoke about potentially not doing our job as well as we would have liked, so to be able to go out there and put a pretty decent score on the board on a fairly low and tricky wicket in my opinion was pretty great, and hopefully that gives us some confidence moving forward,” Healy said after the game.

“Sometimes you know they’re there, but when you say it out loud and you verbalise it, it sort of reinforces it in your own mind about your plans or what someone else might be doing, as well, to get out of your own head. I thought it was great to be able to come out tonight and sort of respond to that.

“I think having those honest conversations aren’t easy, but this team really seems to be quite good at it and is able to call stuff out when it’s happening.

“I think to be able to sit down as a batting group and just identify some areas that we weren’t doing great and where we could be better I think was great for the group.”

Australia sit second in the standings behind India but must beat New Zealand to advance to the finals. NZ captain Katey Martin believes the home side is the one with the uphill battle.

“We’ve got nothing to lose, I mean, we’ve lost a game but all the pressure is on Australia, effectively it’s their home World Cup,” she said.

Healy laughed off the comments, noting that Martin “loves a bit of banter”.

The Australians continue to maintain they are not feeling the pressure. Healy has proved the doubters wrong with two half-centuries in three innings, but admitted her poor form in the lead up to the World Cup had her thinking.

“At some point I did question if I was doing the right thing,” Healy said. “But at the same time, I think getting that reassurance from people that I was doing the right thing, and sometimes when you’re playing the game of cricket you’re not actually out there long enough to lose any form, I still felt like I was hitting the ball really well in the nets and was just sort of finding the fielder or finding some really unlucky ways to get out.

“There’s obviously been a lot of talk about (pressure), but within the group, I don’t think there’s that feeling.

“World Cups are incredibly difficult to win. We’ve been so successful at them by grinding wins out, and every single team in this competition is going to come really, really hard at us.”

Healy said the Australians were happy to grind out wins if that is what it took.

A crowd of 5614 attended Wednesday night’s game in Canberra and ticket sales for the final at the MCG are reported to be north of 50,000 already. Organiser are keen to fill the 90,000 seat stadium for the event that coincides with International Women’s Day, but will need Australia to make it through to the end of the tournament if they are to have any hope of achieving that goal.

“Monday is a pretty crucial game in the context of the World Cup, we’ll take a lot of confidence out of (the win over Bangladesh), especially as a batting group,” Healy said.

“I think there’s been a lot of pressure on us to perform, (but) we haven’t felt it from the inside. We just know that if we execute what we want to do, we’ll get the desired result, and that showed tonight.

“We’re coming up on Monday against a side that we’re really familiar with, so hopefully that suits us even more.”