England go in unchanged to defend their title
Toss England Women chose to bowl vs Australia Women
England have opted to bowl in the final of the 2022 World Cup against Australia in Christchurch.
Ellyse Perry will play for Australia – who have progressed through the tournament undefeated – most likely, as captain Meg Lanning had indicated in the lead-up to the match, as a specialist batter after missing the previous two matches with back spasms. Annabel Sutherland will make way after coming into the side in Perry’s absence earlier.
“She’s a massive in for us,” Lanning said of Perry. “She’s a world-class player who plays well in big games and she averages 50 with the bat so it certainly gives us a big boost for her coming into the side, which is really exciting.
“It would be nice to finish off well. We’ve played some good cricket over a number of years but it doesn’t count for much today. We have to come out here and play well again and that’s a challenge for us.”
England, the defending champions who have overcome losing their first three matches to reach the title decider, go in with an unchanged team. They have played at Hagley Oval twice recently, including their semi-final clash against South Africa, where Danni Wyatt scored a century and left-arm spinner Sophie Ecclestone claimed 6 for 36. Australia haven’t played at the venue since December 2000.
“We want to get out there as a team, it’s a fresh wicket and we know it’s done a little bit here,” captain Heather Knight said of her decision. “I think it will be a pretty good pitch and hopefully the dew will help it skid on a little bit later.
“We’ve bowled outstandingly here and batted really well as well so we know the conditions well, we know what it does, we know how to bowl the best on it and what our plans are with the bat so hopefully we can use that to our advantage.”
Play is set to begin in fine, sunny conditions. When the sides met during the group stage, Australia won by 12 runs, with England going close to chasing down a target of 311.
England 1 Tammy Beaumont, 2 Danni Wyatt, 3 Heather Knight (capt.), 4 Nat Sciver, 5 Amy Jones (wk), 6 Sophia Dunkley, 7 Katherine Brunt, 8 Sophie Ecclestone, 9 Kate Cross, 10 Charlie Dean, 11 Anya Shrubsole
Australia 1 Alyssa Healy (wk), 2 Rachael Haynes, 3 Meg Lanning (capt.), 4 Ellyse Perry, 5 Beth Mooney, 6 Tahlia McGrath, 7 Ashleigh Gardner, 8 Jess Jonassen, 9 Alana King, 10 Megan Schutt, 11 Darcie Brown
Valkerie Baynes is a general editor at ESPNcricinfo