WOMEN WC: INDIA TAKE ON AUSTRALIA TODAY IN SEMIFINAL
India on familiar Derby turf as they face holders in World Cup semis
DERBY: India may be more familiar than Australia with Derby but opener Nicole Bolton is confident the world champions can win anywhere if they produce their best cricket.
Mithali Raj’s side have won all four games they have played at the County Ground, where India meet Australia in the second ICC Women’s World Cup semifinal on Thursday. That success included beating hosts England --- who are already in the final.
But it was Australia who came out on top when the two sides met at Bristol in the league stage as captain Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry scored unbeaten half-centuries.
And Bolton, who has scored 337 runs at 56.16 in the tournament, is confident Australia can adapt quickly to conditions in Derby and book a place in the final, to be played at Lord’s.
“We’ll make sure we’re really clear what our plans are. On any given day, it is irrelevant where we play, if we play our best cricket, hopefully we’ll win the match. India have played a couple of matches at Derby as well so they’ll be pretty familiar with the conditions,” she said.
“We can’t afford to be off our game, as you have seen throughout the tournament, if you have an off day the other team can get a big jump on you. We’ll have to do a bit of homework, look at the conditions and see what Derby has to offer because India will come out and really take it to us.
“With the extra break heading into the game, we’ll be able to familiarise ourselves with the ground and the conditions and have a look at some footage as well.”
MITHALI IN FINE FORM
Mithali has been in fine form with the bat though, scoring 356 runs in seven innings and becoming the first woman to surpass 6,000 runs in one-day cricket. She scored 69 in the defeat to Australia earlier in the competition but knows that would count for nothing when India again meet the reigning champions.
“It’s all about how the teams respond to the situation and conditions on the day. How the players play the situation is important because having said that Derby is our home ground, you need to perform on that day to win,” said Mithali.
“We’ve played a lot of the group stage here so we are aware of the conditions, and that is to our advantage,” she said.
“But Australia is a very good side. They won the last edition and they have a lot of players who have played in high-pressure games. But for this Indian team, it is going to be a big game and if we can pull off one win, it will be exceptional.”