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Preview: Jess Jonassen admits Australia are still searching for a perfect game despite boasting an unbeaten record and qualifying for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 semi-finals with two games to spare.
The world’s No 1-ranked side have racked up six wins on the spin and will be hoping for a clean sweep in the group stages when they take on Bangladesh in Wellington at 11am local time tomorrow.
Bangladesh have earned one win in their maiden ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup campaign but after pushing South Africa and West Indies all the way, spinner Jonassen knows her team will need to be at their best to extend their red-hot streak.
“It’s something that we’ve identified throughout the whole tournament so far and now we’re building towards this business end of the tournament, we’re still looking for the perfect game,” said Jonassen, 29.
“But ultimately, we’re just looking to improve each and every game in different areas – and we do have a bit to improve on still with the ball.
“Obviously against South Africa, we weren’t able to take wickets up front, but we were able to hold them and are just needing to tighten up in a few areas, which I think is really exciting considering we’ve gone through undefeated whilst still identifying areas that we can improve on.”
Australia will face Bangladesh for the first time in ODIs but Jonassen has been watching intently as the Tigresses have made their way through the tournament.
She added: “It’s really exciting. It’s exciting for them to be a part of their first 50-over World Cup and I mean, for me personally, I’m a bit of a cricket snuff, so I’ve been watching almost every game of the World Cup and I’ve taken a bit from that.
“We have different small group planning meetings, based on our specialty within the squad and so we use that as some information-gathering and information-sharing as well.
“I think 50-over cricket, it allows you to adapt on the run a little bit as well and it’s not like the T20 game where it’s almost been and gone before you can blink.
“It’s going to be an exciting challenge and something that we’re really looking forward to tomorrow.”
While Australia have vowed to play their best side in each match, they will be without stalwart Ellyse Perry after she left the field with a back injury in the win over South Africa.
Kate Beerworth, Australia team physiotherapist, said: “Ellyse came off the field with a back spasm, but it is settling down with treatment.
“She won’t play tomorrow but we expect that she will be available for the semi-final.”
For Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana, Perry’s absence will mean one fewer dangerous bowler her side have to worry about.
Nigar has admitted her team have not been at their best with the bat, something they will hope to turn around if they are to end their ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup bow on a high.
She said: “Our bowling unit is doing very well, so what we will do and what we need to work the most on is to fix our batting unit, it has become very important.
“It turns out that our bowlers tried to restrict the opponents to a decent score in all the last matches we played but somehow we couldn’t support them with our batting unit because the top order collapsed.
“So, those scores were not achievable, or at least we could have gone even closer to those matches. Now we have discussed among ourselves how we can play or plan so that our batting unit can come back on track.
“Now every one of us expects the batting to bounce back. Of course, Australia are the strongest team and so far they are in a very good position in the tournament.
“But still, I think that if we can do well in both units – we can fight them very well.”
With inputs from ICC