Australia women will break a world-record winning streak if they are victorious in the opening match of their ODI series against New Zealand on Sunday.
Meg Lanning’s side equalled the record of 21 straight wins set by Ricky Ponting’s ODI side in 2003 when they walloped New Zealand by 232 runs last October in Brisbane. The victorious streak started with an eight-wicket win over India in 2018 and their dominance ensures they are firm favourites for next year’s World Cup in New Zealand.
While Lanning said the team hasn’t discussed the milestone on this tour, she admitted it would be an honour to break a record that has stood for eighteen years.
“Absolutely, it's Ricky Ponting so obviously a great of Australian cricket and world cricket and they had a pretty amazing team and if we were to be able to break that record it would be a great achievement for the group,” said Lanning.
“Those wins have come over a long period of time as well. It hasn't just been a year or so, it's been a two or three year block so I think that shows we've had some really good consistency so, yeah, while it's not something we're focusing on if it was to happen it would be a great achievement.”
The switch to the 50-over format comes after the final match of the T20I leg of the tour was rained out at Eden Park after just 17 balls were bowled, leaving the series drawn at one win apiece. After a six-wicket victory in the opening match, Australia were less convincing against a much-improved New Zealand side in the second, a nail-biting encounter which came down to the last ball, when Maddy Green’s inside edge flashed to the boundary to seal a home win and level the series.
While the ODIs have more significance at this stage of the international cycle, Australia’s performance in the T20s have raised a couple of questions over form and tactics.
Ellyse Perry, returning to the Australian side after a year recovering from a serious hamstring injury, bowled just one over across the two matches. Where once Perry would almost certainly have bowled in the powerplay, Lanning instead turned to the new generation of pace in Tayla Vlaeminck and a teenager on debut in Darcie Brown.
“It's really exciting for Australian cricket that we've got some young players coming in, who have come in and played a role for us straight away,” said Lanning.
“The fast bowling side of things is at the moment the area where we've got a couple of new players in Tayla and Darcy and it's been really exciting to see. I think Ellyse still has a really big role to play for us but the more variety we can have, that's going to really play a big role for us moving forward.
“It's been great to see those young players come in and take the game by the scruff of the neck and really be aggressive. So from my perspective, I'm really excited about what's to come.”
Perry scored a quickfire 23 off 16 balls and hit the winning runs in the first T20. Her batting style has generally been more suited to the fifty-over format and Lanning expects her to play a bigger overall role in the upcoming ODIs.
“She's obviously played a massive role for us, particularly in ODIs over the last five years,” said Lanning.
“She's got an exceptional record and is very well experienced in that format so I daresay she will play a bigger role for us. There's obviously more overs to bowl as well so she'll get a chance throughout the ODI series.
“She's been working really hard to get back into form, she's coming back from a serious injury. I think from what we've seen during the series so far it's been really exciting and looking forward to seeing her play in a longer format.”
Lanning admitted there was discussion in the Australian camp over the role of Ash Gardner in the batting line-up after the loss in Napier. Gardner was a powerhouse in the opening match, coming in after the loss of three early wickets and smashing 73 runs off 48 deliveries, but came to the crease with only ten balls remaining in the second game. Australia have preferred a largely successful plan of keeping a left and right hand combination at the crease but Lanning said there was room for flexibility depending on the match situation.
“Absolutely, you have to be able to read the game as much as you can,” said Lanning.
“Whenever games are really close you look back a little moments in the game that could have gone differently. We've obviously gone with that for a little while and we've got so many good batters who play slightly different styles so it's just about trying to match it up as best you can on the day and try to read it as quickly as you can.
“So there's definitely an element of that and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But we feel like we've got some really good variety within our batting that we can use different types.”
