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Stars batters find their ideal balance

Villani finds her groove and Lanning rolls on as Aussie top-order at last clicks into gear

First it was freedom the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars batting line-up was seeking this summer; then it was the pursuit of smart cricket.

Finally Elyse Villani and Meg Lanning seemed to find that sweet spot between the two on Thursday, executing a near-perfect run chase for Australia against Sri Lanka that was marred only by the dismissal of Alyssa Healy for 12, as they reached their target of 124 with nine wickets in hand and 14 balls to spare.

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Two months ago against India, slow starts and timid batting proved costly, while top-order collapses triggered by rash shots and poor decision-making have also plagued the Southern Stars of late – albeit in the face of some very strong bowling from both New Zealand and South Africa.

"Every member of our batting unit was very disappointed with those two starts in the last two games and I think today it was just about backing ourselves and playing with that mix between freedom and smart cricket," Villani said after the match.

"Moving forward our batting unit is very clear about what they want to do."

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For Villani, Thursday's performance was particularly pleasing.

She never looked in danger of losing her wicket as she combined with Lanning in an unbeaten 98-run second-wicket stand, producing easily her best innings since forcing her way back into the Australian XI earlier this month.

Avoiding her natural instinct to go for the big, lofted shots, the 26-year-old posted a chanceless half-century from just 36 balls.

It followed scores of 3, 6, 6, 4 and 0 since returning to the Southern Stars XI in Wellington, backing up the promise shown in her 51 during Australia's warm-up against West Indies in Chennai.

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She found the boundary nine times on her way to an unbeaten 53.

"I've been feeling pretty good in the nets but it's always disappointing when it doesn't transfer out into the game," Villani said.

"I think in the past few games I haven’t faced many balls and I've made pretty low scores, so today was more about giving myself a bit more time at the start of my innings and keeping it along the carpet a little bit longer, until I've summed up the conditions.

"That's what I tried to do today and I played to my strengths, which are sweeping and playing along the ground."

Villani said the Southern Stars had also realised they needed to adapt quicker to the conditions in India, after losing 3-9 and 4-4 in their first two matches against South Africa and New Zealand.

"I think this was the best pitch we've played on so far, but it was also the best we've played on (any) pitch as well," she added.

"We've been trying to play a style we play in Australia and it doesn’t necessarily transfer over here 100 per cent, so hopefully we'll keep adapting quicker to the wickets."