Sri Lanka bat with Nisansala back for Ranaweera

Toss Sri Lanka chose to bat against New Zealand

Sri Lanka won the toss and elected to bat first in Sharjah. Sri Lanka are of course out of the running for a place in the semi-final, but for New Zealand a win is paramount to their qualification chances.

Chamari Athapaththu acknowledged that their batting has been a let-down across the tournament, but she’s backing them to come good today and end the tournament on a high. They have made one change with left-arm spinner Sachini Nisansala back in for fellow left-armer Inoka Ranaweera.

Sophie Devine says they would have batted first as well, and that they’re simply focused first and foremost on getting the win as opposed to worrying about boosting their net run rate. They too have made one change with offspinner Leigh Kasperek coming in for left-arm spinner Fran Jonas.

It’s 38 degrees out in the middle, so pretty uncomfortable weather. The pitch dimensions are 57 and 63 metres square of the wicket, with a 73 metre hit down the ground. As has been the case in Sharjah so far, the bounce on the surface is expected to be on the low end with the spinners expected to play a major role in the game.

New Zealand XI: Suzie Bates, Georgia Plimmer, Amelia Kerr, Sophie Devine (capt), Brooke Halliday, Maddy Green, Isabella Gaze (wk), Lea Tahuhu, Leigh Kasperek, Rosemary Mair, Eden Carson

Sri Lanka XI: Chamari Athapaththu (capt), Vishmi Gunaratne, Harshitha Samarawickrama, Kavisha Dilhari, Anushka Sanjeewani (wk), Nilakshika Silva, Ama Kanchana, Sachini Nisansala, Sugandika Kumari, Inoshi Priyadharshani, Udeshika Prabodhani