Australia to face India in Women’s Cricket World Cup semi-final

The Southern Stars have beaten the team in blue earlier in the competition but they have vowed to take nothing for granted.

Australia vs India Source: Photo by @SouthernStars

India will meet the reigning champions Australia in the Women's Cricket World Cup semi-final on Thursday.

Australia routed India by eight wickets, registering an easy-win within 45 overs, when the two teams met at Bristol earlier in the week.

But Australia is aware of the fact that opponents are capable of producing the best cricket as they did in their match against tournament favorites England.

The Southern Stars have an impressive run so far with a 6-1 winning record. They finished second on the round robin ladder behind arch-rivals England (6-1), separated only by run rate.

India have won all four games they have played at the County Ground in Derby.

Nicole Bolton, who has scored 337 runs at the rate of 56.16 in the tournament, confirmed that Australia is not going to take this match lightly.

"They'll be familiar with the conditions, so it's pretty cut throat, we can't afford to be off our game, and as you've seen throughout the tournament if you have an off-day the other team can get a jump on you," said Bolton.

India captain Mithali Raj has been in superb batting form. She has scored 356 runs in her last seven innings. She also became the first woman to surpass 6,000 runs in one-day cricket while playing in this tournament.

She scored 69 against Australia earlier in the competition.

The Nine Network has confirmed live free-to-air coverage of Australia’s semi-final against India.

The match starts at 7:20PM AEST on TV channel 9Go with the Wide World of Sports coverage to be hosted by Australian cricket greats Mark Taylor and Ian Healy.

World Cup squads

Australia: Sarah Aley, Kristen Beams, Alex Blackwell (vc), Nicole Bolton, Ashleigh Gardner, Rachael Haynes, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Meg Lanning (c), Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington.

India: Mithali Raj (captain), Ekta Bisht, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Jhulan Goswami, Mansi Joshi, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy, Smrti Mandhana, Mona Meshram, Shikha Pandey, Poonam, Nuzhat Parween, Punam Raut, Deepti Sharma and Sushma Verma.