Good signs for Stars' Cup defence: Lanning

An opener in red-hot form and the discovery of several young stars in the making has Australia skipper Meg Lanning smiling ahead of her team's 50-over World Cup title defence this June.

The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars' fighting 2-1 Rose Bowl win, sealed with a five-wicket, final-over victory against New Zealand on Sunday, continuing a winning streak in one-day international series that started in January 2014.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Lanning's team, who had to fightback after losing the series opening in Auckland, but she can see plenty of positives.

"I'm really happy, as a group we fought back nicely after the first game, where we thought we did a lot of things right but didn't nail it down," she said.

"It showed a lot of character from the group to come out playing the way we did."

Quick Single: Stars claim series after Lanning's record ton

Opener Beth Mooney, 23, was named player of the series after scoring 226 runs at 75.33 across the three matches, posting scores of 100, 57 and 69. 

She had come into the series under pressure to consolidate herself at the top of the order, with just 108 runs from her first five one-day innings, but now appears a lock for the position alongside Nicole Bolton come the World Cup.

"She's done well at domestic level for a couple of year now, but hadn't translated that to international level," Lanning said.

"We always believed she would come in and be a good player for us and she showed us this series that she's got a very big future."

Australia debuted three teenagers over their last two ODI series, with 19-year-old Amanda-Jade Wellington breaking into the Southern Stars XI last November before left-arm quick Lauren Cheatle, 18, and allrounder Ashleigh Gardner, 19, were handed international caps against New Zealand.

Wellington ended the Rose Bowl series as Australia's highest wicket taker with six scalps, while Ashleigh Gardner claimed 3-56 including the key wicket of Amy Sattherwaite for 11 on Sunday after scoring the winning runs in the second ODI.

Quick Single: Magnificient Meg sets new ODI benchmark

"That's what you want our domestic competitions to do," Lanning explained.

"The WBBL exposes you to those high-pressure situations and those high standards.

"It shows the domestic competitions are working for us and it's nice to see them come in and do well."

The Australians will now enjoy a break before their World Cup preparations begin with a series of camps at Brisbane's Bupa National Cricket Centre.

Lanning said there was still plenty for the squad to work on ahead of that tournament, but first the players would enjoy a much-needed break after their busiest summer to date.

"I think our 50-over form has been really good and we're starting to work out how to bat across the 50 overs and get the right tempo going," she said.

"We've got some real weapons with the ball now and I'm happy with how we're placed.

"But we've still got fair bit of work to do in the off season before the World Cup, although everyone is looking forward to a break now before that.

"A fair few players are heading away which will be good for them to forget about cricket for a bit before they come back refreshed and hungry to win that World Cup."