Australia on brink of record
BRISBANE: Australia’s women can draw level with Ricky Ponting’s side of 2003 on 21 consecutive ODI victories if they win against the White Ferns in Brisbane today.
They have not lost a 50over clash since October 2017, marching unbeaten through India and a run of five more bilateral series before the coronavirus pandemic stalled their progress.
Leading New Zealand 20, the record is finally within reach but, according to veteran bowler Megan Schutt, is still only something talked about externally.
‘‘There hasn’t actually been a discussion; but obviously deep down it’d be cool to reach the record,’’ Schutt said.
‘‘But never (do we get sick of winning) . . . losing sucks. We’re pretty hard on ourselves when we do — it makes you dive deep and pick little things out — but we still do that when we’re successful.
‘‘There’s been many occasions where we’ve been holding up the trophy after just losing that last match.
‘‘It’s hard to crack a smile sometimes, it feels a bit rough, so we spoke about making sure we finish off the series well.’’
Australia sealed the series on Monday, easily running down the 252 needed after New Zealand’s fast start.
‘‘It’s that team belief; we’ve been in so many games where we’ve pulled it back from nowhere or made something happen,’’ Schutt said.