England pacer Shrubsole aiming to replicate 2017 Women’s World Cup magic

Hamilton, March 4 : Englands right-arm pace bowler Anya Shrubsole wants to replicate her 2017 ICC Womens Cricket World Cup final heroics as the defending champions prepare to take on six-time winners Australia in their opening match at the Seddon Park here on Saturday.

Shrubsoles six-wicket haul in the 2017 edition put paid to Indias hopes in the final as they lost a closely-contested match by nine runs at Lords.

Shrubsoles 6/46 are the best bowling figures in a World Cup final.Despite the 30-year-old Shrubsole not at her devastating best, she is hoping the World Cup challenge will spur her again.

"I would obviously hope (I can replicate it).Otherwise, Im not sure there is a huge amount of point me being here If I didnt think I was capable of taking wickets.But I think that has absolutely zero bearing on what happens here.

Theyre amazing memories and an amazing day to be a part of but this is five years later on and a fresh World Cup in a different country.Im just really excited to get out there and get going," said Shrubsole, a veteran of 78 WODIs.

The last time England and Australia met in this tournament, the former won by three runs.Shrubsole was involved on that day in Briston in 2017 and is expecting a similar outcome this time.

"If both teams play well, I think theyre two relatively evenly-matched teams and the games have seemingly gone down to the wire," the two-time World Cup winner said."The nature of World Cups is theyre one-off games and quite often they get quite close.

For my own nerves, hopefully, its not super close out there tomorrow, but it wouldnt surprise me if it was," she told ICC on Friday.Someone who could well have a say in how the match goes on Saturday is Australian opener Alyssa Healy, who starred the last time her team played a final with 75 from 39 balls in the ICC Womens T20 World Cup 2020 showpiece.

Australia skipper Meg Lanning said, "She (Healy) looks good, the other day in the practice game against New Zealand she was on the front foot immediately, punishing any width and bad balls."Alyssa has shown over her career that in big games, she steps up and World Cups are tournaments that she plays extremely well in, so I expect the same from her throughout.

Shes a big-game player and shes very important to us."Australias exit at the semifinal stage in the 2017 edition (they lost to India) was a defining moment and a five-year rebuilding process has seen the team come into the tournament with plenty of experienced players."I think we do have a lot of experience in World Cups and performing under pressure and what that looks like," Lanning added.

"If anything, weve learned to really try and focus on how we can best prepare and play.Of course, we look at the opposition and what their strengths and weaknesses are."But at the end of the day, I think if you go out there and really play to your potential and strengths, then thats going to give you the best chance of winning and thats certainly what weve done in preparation for this World Cup."Particularly over the last week, with those practice games, is trying to worry about what were going to do and making sure were focusing on that because we feel like if we can do that, then thatll put us in a good position," said Lanning.Australia beat the West Indies comfortably in their first warm-up game before succumbing to a nine-wicket loss to New Zealand.

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