DERBY, United Kingdom, July 20, 2017 (BSS/AFP) – India captain Mithali Raj won the toss and elected to bat against Australia in the second semi-final of the Women’s World Cup at Derby on Thursday.
Rain had reduced this match to a 42 overs per side contest, with bad weather and a sodden outfield delaying the scheduled 10:30am(0930 GMT) start by more than two hours.
Both sides need to have the chance to face at least 20 overs per side in order to constitute a match, with a reserve day in place on Friday if a result cannot be achieved on Thursday.
India retained the side that beat New Zealand — in what was a virtual quarter-final — five days ago at the same Derby ground where they have won all four matches they’ve played at the venue in this tournament.
Australia captain and star batsman Meg Lanning, who was rested from the reigning champions’ last match against South Africa to manage a longstanding shoulder injury, returned in place of interim skipper Rachael Haynes in Australia’s only change.
The winner of Thursday’s match will play in the sell-out final at Lord’s on Sunday against tournament hosts England, who defeated South Africa by just two wickets in the first semi-final at Bristol on Thursday.
If rain means a result cannot be achieved on either Thursday or Friday, Australia — who beat India by eight wickets at Bristol in the group phase — will advance as a result of having won six matches this tournament compared to India’s five.
Teams
Australia: Beth Mooney, Nicole Bolton, Meg Lanning (capt), Ellyse Perry, Elyse Villani, Alex Blackwell, Alyssa Healy (wkt), Ashleigh Gardner, Jess Jonassen, Megan Schutt, Kristen Beams
India: Smriti Mandhana, Poonam Raut, Mithali Raj (capt), Harmanpreet Kaur, Deepti Sharma, Veda Krishnamurthy, Sushma Verma (wkt), Shikha Pandey, Jhulan Goswami, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav
Umpires: Shaun George (RSA), Ahsan Raza (PAK)
TV umpire: Adrian Holdstock (RSA)
Match referee: David Jukes (ENG)