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Bella James will make her international debut for New Zealand after being called up in place of Georgia Plimmer who is suffering from a bone stress reaction in her hip and will be sidelined until next year. James will probably open in Plimmer’s absence and is a powerful hitter who will attack Australia pace bowlers.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy is in line for a return to the side – as a batter only, rather than also taking the gloves – after missing the three ODI series on home turf against India due to injury. Young opener Georgia Voll fitted in seamlessly in Healy’s absence, amassing 173 runs in three knocks, and explained what it meant to be handed a debut cap and then grasp her opportunity.
I do enjoy opening. That’s the goal that I’d love to keep going, but obviously Alyssa Healy is a world-class player, so she slots right back in. But this whole team is world class, so it’s hard to crack any spot.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the second one-day international between New Zealand and Australia. This has all the hallmarks of being the series opener after the first ODI was washed out with the teams not even arriving at Basin Reserve let alone a ball being bowled on Thursday.
With only two games to play in the series, Australia need just one victory to extend their firm stranglehold on the Rose Bowl. New Zealand last claimed the piece of silverware in 1999 before handing it back just a year later. But the White Ferns have shown recently that they know how to win trophies, after their historic Women’s T20 World Cup triumph this year.
Playing Australia in the 50-over format is almost like a different sport as the all-conquering side hold the Women’s Cricket World Cup title and have won 31 of their 34 ODIs in the past three years.
The conditions in Wellington are much more favourable to actually playing cricket today, with a bit of sun peeking through the clouds. It’s about 18C at the moment with a predicted high of 22C.
First ball will be at 11am local time or 9am AEDT. The toss and team news will be coming up shortly.
Meanwhile, let us know your thoughts and predictions - shoot me an email or find me @martinpegan on Bluesky or X. Let’s get into it!
