Aussie women’s coach Matthew Mott admits New Zealand gave Australia a “kick in the backside” in Tuesday’s practice match but has rejected suggestion the hefty defeat will derail Australia’s World Cup hopes.
Mott also downplayed the omission of superstar all-rounder Ellyse Perry from the side that lost to the Kiwis, explaining Australia was taking a “conservative” approach with its pace bowlers at the World Cup.
The host nation belted the Aussies to the tune of nine wickets on Tuesday, with Perth Scorchers superstar Sxjmtzywophie Devine swashbuckling her way to an unbeaten 161 runs.
Australia is the top-ranked WODI side in the world and favourite to win the World Cup, and while Mott said there were plenty of lessons to take from the loss, he insisted his troops wouldn’t be losing sleep over it ahead of their first official match on March 5.
“At each World Cup each team’s tactics evolve, and we’re fully prepared for a very high-scoring tournament, particularly at the front end when the wickets are at their freshest,” he said.
“That (practice match) was a really good test for us. It’s something that we’ll bank.
“Whether we won or lost doesn’t count for a lot in the big scheme of things.
“Obviously, as a bowling group, we learnt some great lessons and it does show how dangerous some teams can be.
“We didn’t really show our hand in terms of match-ups and some of the things that we’ll have planned when we play New Zealand next time.
“Obviously, we hate losing, no one likes losing, but if you’re going to lose, that’s the match to lose and learn some lessons before we start the ones that count.”
Mott also lifted the lid on his decision to omit Perry from the XI that lost to New Zealand, explaining she had experienced foot soreness after the first practice match against the West Indies.
“We have been very conservative with her, as we have been with Darcie (Brown) as well. They’re key bowlers for us,” Mott said.
“It’s about not sustaining injuries to our bowlers, it’s a dangerous period, and the batters got time in the middle, but we know it counts for nothing when we take on England on March 5.”
Australia went undefeated through the ODI leg of the recent multi-format Ashes, but Mott expected the English would be hungry for revenge at the World Cup.
“What England have shown over a long period of time is that they love tournament play, they turn up at the right times and that’s why they’re the world champions at the moment,” he said.
“I would take it with a grain of salt, that Ashes series, in terms of tournament play, and we’ll have to be at our best to get over them.
“Yesterday was probably the perfect tonic for us – if anyone was feeling like we’re going pretty well, it was a little kick in the backside at the right time to just (remind us) that any team in this tournament on their day have got players that can stand up and hurt you.”
