Photo Credit: Twitter Profile Photo @MaddyLGreen
New Zealand batter Maddy Green has guaranteed all-out attack against Sri Lanka, as they look to keep their slim ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2023 semi-final hopes alive.
The White Ferns lost their first two matches and were on the verge of being eliminated before bouncing back to defeat Bangladesh by 71 runs on Friday.
While still in contention to progress from Group 1, New Zealand need to win their last match against Sri Lanka, boost their run-rate and hope other results go their way.
And Green, who returned to form with 44 not out against Bangladesh, insists that, as long as there is a chance, there is belief in the New Zealand squad.
“We know that there is only one way to play, and that is attacking. We’ve got to try to boost our run-rate as quickly as possible,” she said.
“We’ve spoken about just trying to score as many runs and put as many on the board as we can and play a style of cricket that reflects that.
“I thought the wicket against Bangladesh was fantastic from a batting point of view. So that really helped us from that regard. And we know against Sri Lanka, we’ve got to try to put on a similar performance if we’ve got any sort of chance of making those semi-finals and the rest of it is sort of out of our control.
“But we are trying to play that style of cricket that gives us a chance and the girls certainly believe that we have still a chance in this tournament.”
Sri Lanka might be five places behind New Zealand in the MRF Tyres Women’s T20I Rankings, but sit above them in the Group A standings.
Victories against both South Africa and Bangladesh have put them in pole position for a semi-final place, and Green is not surprised by how well they have played.
“I think they are a side that has got some great players,” she said.
“Obviously, their captain, Chamari Athapaththu, has been a really good player for a long period of time and I think her ability to have an impact on the game just goes up the shorter the format is.
“We know that she hits the ball really hard and I think her performance against South Africa in their first game, she was absolutely fantastic and she’s a really key wicket for us.
“I think they have got some really good bowlers on their side who bowl with a lot of accuracy and make it difficult to score. So, it is about how we counteract that and put some pressure back on their bowlers.”
Meanwhile, a win for Sri Lanka will put them on the brink of their first ever Women’s T20 World Cup semi-final.
They lost their last match to Australia by 10 wickets but Athapaththu believes they can beat New Zealand if they match their performances from earlier in the tournament.
“We are in good position. We have to keep doing the same things in the next game and try to play positive cricket,” she said.
“Obviously, New Zealand at this tournament have struggled, we know that, but we never underestimate them because they have a lot of good players.
“I always say to my team “play your natural game don’t take any pressure for the last game, because anything can happen in this format,” especially the T20 format so we stick with our plan we back our skills and play our natural game. That’s it.”
