Australia vs Pakistan – match abandoned
The third T20 match against Pakistan in Canberra was washed out without a ball being bowled.
Light but persistent rain at Manuka Oval meant that players never took to the field for the dead rubber encounter, which saw the hosts win the three-match series 2–0.
The players will now fly to Sydney for Monday night’s Australian Cricket Awards and fly to South Africa on Tuesday for warm-up matches against India (6 February) and Ireland (8 February).
Australia are entering the tournament as favourites, but Lanning said they would be dealing with a host of teams coming in to take the crown.
“We’re very well aware that there are a lot of good teams out there chasing similar success; we’re certainly not complacent in any way,” he said. “We have high expectations of ourselves … We are a very motivated, very competitive group so that naturally lends itself to big tournaments like this where you need to be at your best.”
The skipper said Australia were not planning to use Sunday’s clash to give depth players a chance going into the showpiece tournament, although nine bowlers were used in Friday’s second game of the series to help the frontline focus on quicks. Work load can be reduced.
Lanning said, “She’s striking well, it’s all going according to plan… I think if she can, she’ll get a few practice matches out there.” “She’s a very entertaining batsman who takes the game forward, puts the opposition under pressure from ball one, that’s an important part of T20 cricket.
“The other thing is just experience in big matches. He’s done really well under pressure before, and that’s something not every team has.”
Australia’s first match of the World Cup will be against New Zealand on February 12 in Paarl.
