The chase is on: Aussies show no total is out of reach

Anyone hoping to come between Australia and a seventh one-day World Cup title might want to think very carefully when it comes to the coin toss.

Australia answered their biggest challenge yet at this tournament on Saturday, reeling in India's 7-277 at Eden Park to set a new record for the highest chase at a women's World Cup.

It went closer to the wire than Meg Lanning and her team might have hoped, with a late fightback from India taking it to the final over before Beth Mooney iced victory with 10 runs in three balls.

The six-wicket win continued Australia's unbeaten run at the tournament as they became the first team to cement their spot in the semi-finals.

It was not without its blemishes – 24 runs from wides boosted India's total, while a couple of dropped chances, including Harmanpreet Kaur on 33, added to Australia's target.

But notably, it took Australia's streak of winning ODI run chases to 17, a run that stretches back to March 2018.

It was also the fourth successful 270-plus chase in women's ODIs in the last six months. In the previous 48 years, there had been just three.

India have been on the wrong end of those four most recent 270-plus run chases: Australia won on the final ball in Mackay last September when they reeled in 7-274, while New Zealand chased down 6-270 and 279 in the space of four days in Queenstown last month, before Saturday's result.

"I think overall that was a pretty clinical chase," Lanning said following the game.

"Alyssa Healy and Rachael Haynes set it up nicely at the top, they got us ahead of the rate, and that just allowed the new batters to come in, settle themselves and build partnerships.

"We've seen throughout this World Cup that there are a lot of great teams, and anyone can win on any day.

"We want to make sure we're improving each game that we play ... you want to be peaking at the right time and I feel like we're doing that, we've had different people contribute at different times which we need. 

"But we have to continue to get better and put that perfect game together, that's what we're searching for."

The last time Australia failed in their pursuit of a 50-over target was during the 2017 Ashes when they fell short of England's 8-284. Lanning, who averages 74 in winning ODI chases, missed that series following shoulder surgery.

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Batting second since 2017 ODI World Cup

South Africa: Played 27 | Won 20

Australia: Played 19 | Won 18

India: Played 19 | Won 13

England Played 18 | Won 11

New Zealand: Played 21 | Won 9

West Indies: Played 21 | Won 7

Bangladesh: Played 11 | Won 6

Pakistan: Played 19 | Won 4

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While the Australia captain fell three runs short of a 15th ODI century when she was caught on 97, with her team eight runs short of victory, Lanning was dismissive when asked if she was bothered by the missed milestone.

"To be honest I just wanted to win us the game," Lanning said.

"I wasn't too worried about getting to a hundred, it would have been nice but I was disappointed at the end there to add a little bit of unnecessary pressure on Moons and Tahlia (McGrath).

"We still have a bit left in the tank, which I think is important, but it was nice to chase down a decent total."

It is that competitive spirit that has helped shape Lanning into a second-innings run machine; of her 4292 career one-day runs, 2378 have come in successful chases, across 46 innings.

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Top scorers in winning run-chases

Meg Lanning (Aus) Runs 2378 | Inns 46 | Avg 74.31 | 100s 9 | 50s 11

Mithali Raj (Ind) Runs 2181 | Inns 55 | Avg 109.05 | 100s 1 | 50s 18

Sarah Taylor (Eng) Runs 1721 | Inns 47 | Avg 49.17 | 100s 1 | 50s 12

Charlotte Edwards (Eng) Runs 1716 | Inns 52 | Avg 44 | 100s 1 | 50s 15

Belinda Clark (Aus) Runs 1597 | Inns 38 | Avg 55.06 | 100s 0 | 50s 14

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Lanning's partner in crime for much of Saturday's chase was Ellyse Perry, who never quite got going in a 51-ball 28, but stuck with her skipper in a critical 103-run stand.

Perry and Lanning average 161.63 together in one-day chases; their 14 partnerships include six century stands and six fifty stands.

"I think we've got different games, we hit to different areas of the ground, which I think helps us to put pressure on the bowlers," Lanning said of her chemistry with Perry.

"She's very calm and I think that allows me to just settle in and play my game.

"She's a world-class player and has been for a long time and when she's at the crease I think everybody feels pretty calm.

"It was nice to be able to put that partnership together again, we felt like if we could put a couple of big ones together that was going to help get us over the line and that's how it turned out."

When Perry eventually holed out to a full toss in the 42nd over, in came Mooney, the Queenslander who has risen to No.4 in the one-day batting rankings and again proved she can seamlessly adapt to any situation, striking an unbeaten 30 off 20 balls to seal the game.

It was a vastly different role to the one she played in Australia's epic chase against India in Mackay last September when she anchored the innings with a gritty century following a rare failure by the Lanning-Perry combination.

"She's very flexible," Lanning said of Mooney.

"We've seen this tournament that she's played some knocks under the pump when we've been three for not many and she's been able to dig us out of that.

"And then to come in tonight, and she really took the pressure off me, she said that's what she was going to do ... just to get a couple of boundaries away early in her innings certainly calms me down and the dug out as well.

"We need to have flexibility within our line-up (and) Moons has really showed throughout the tournament, she's capable of doing that."

ICC Women's Cricket World Cup 2022

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington. Travelling reserves: Heather Graham, Georgia Redmayne

Australia's World Cup 2022 fixtures

Mar 5: Beat England by 12 runs

Mar 8: Beat Pakistan by seven wickets

Mar 13: Beat New Zealand by 141 runs

Mar 15: Beat West Indies by seven wickets

Mar 19: Beat India by six wickets

Mar 22: v South Africa, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

Mar 25: v Bangladesh, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

Semi-finals

Mar 30: Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

Mar 31: Hagley Park Christchurch, 12pm AEDT

Final

Apr 3: Hagley Park Christchurch, 11am AEDT

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports