India seek ‘home’ edge vs Aus
AT HOME India’s familiarity with Derby advantage ahead of World Cup semis We’ll make sure we’re really clear what our plans are. It is irrelevant where we play, if we play our best cricket, hopefully we’ll win the match
India may be more familiar than Australia with surroundings in Derby but Nicole Bolton is confident the World Champions can win anywhere if they produce their best cricket.
Mithali Raj’s side have won all four of the games they have played at the County Ground, where India meet Australia in the second Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-final, including against hosts England in the opening match of the tournament. But it was Australia who came out on top when the two sides met at Bristol in the group stage as Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry both made unbeaten halfcenturies.
And Bolton, who has scored 337 runs at 56.16 in the tournament thus far, 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.”
India captain Mithali Raj has been in fine form with the bat herself 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 counts 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. We’ve played a lot of the group stage here, four games, so we are aware of the conditions and that is our advantage,” she said.
“But Australia is a very good side. They won the last edition of this tournament 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 out one win, it will be exceptional by the team.”
You need to perform on that day to win. We’ve played a lot of the group stage here so we are aware of the conditions and that is our advantage.