Monster totals on cards in T20 tri-series

Australia will aim to post one of their highest T20I scores ever on Friday if batting first against England, with captain Meg Lanning expecting the batting-friendly conditions to continue at Brabourne Stadium.

Lanning’s team started the T20I tri-series in Mumbai with a comfortable six-wicket win over India on Thursday, equaling their best run chase of 153 with 11 balls to spare.

They have less than 24 hours to recover, rest and prepare for their second match against England, beginning at 10am on Friday (3.30pm AEDT).

In Thursday’s game, the short boundaries and lightning-fast outfield at Brabourne Stadium ensured just about everything that got past the inner circle went to the ropes.

“I think you’ve got to be aiming towards that 180-200 mark on this ground and that outfield,” Lanning said after striking 35no from 25 on Thursday.

“The outfield plays a massive part, it gets through and it’s four.

“So it’s going to depend on the conditions and what pitch we’re playing on, but today 180 was about what we would have been looking for if we’d batted first.

“It’s tough bowling out there - get a little bit off and you go for four, even your good balls go for four.”

Australia’s highest score in T20Is is the 4-191 they scored against Ireland during the 2014 World T20 in Bangladesh, while they’ve surpassed 180 on three occasions.

On Thursday, they showed they were willing to be flexible when it comes to their batting – after losing aggressive opener Alyssa Healy early in the first over of the chase, Ashleigh Gardner was promoted ahead of Lanning to No.3. When she departed, the equally dynamic Elyse Villani came out ahead of her skipper.

Lanning explained it as simply a matter of trying to be unpredictable – hinting the batting order may change again against England today.

“We need to be really flexible, that’s T20 for you, I don’t think you can be too predictable,” she said.

“We came in with a plan today against India and it could be different tomorrow against England.

“I think that’s the key to our group, everyone can play different roles and we’re able to step in when we need.

“The girls who came in early today did their job really well and we’ll have to assess the best thing to do tomorrow against England and go from there.”

Lanning was satisfied with a performance that saw Australia fight back after an early onslaught from Smriti Mandhana took India to 0-72 after nine overs, before a clinical run chase led by opener Beth Mooney.

“It was a pretty good performance, I thought we were under the pump a little bit with the ball early,” she said.

“Those couple of wickets in the middle changed the game, we were pretty happy chasing 150. We thought par was a little bit more than that, and I thought our batters did a good job as well.

“It’s nice to start off that way.”

Commonwealth Bank Tour of India

Australia T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Mithali Raj, Veda Krishnamurthy, Jemimah Rodrigues, Anuja Patil, Deepti Sharma, Taniya Bhatia, Poonam Yadav, Ekta Bisht, Jhulan Goswami, Shikha Pandey, Pooja Vastrakar, Rumeli Dhar, Mona Meshram.

England T20I squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Katie George, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Anya Shrubsole, Bryony Smith, Nat Sciver, Fran Wilson, Danni Wyatt

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by 321 runs. Report

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by seven wickets. Report

ODI series

First ODI Australia won by eight wickets. Scorecard

Second ODI Australia won by 60 runs. Scorecard

Third ODI Australia won by 97 runs. Scorecard

T20I tri-series

First T20I Australia defeated India by six wickets. Scorecard

Second T20I Australia v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 23. Live Coverage

Third T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 25. Live Coverage

Fourth T20I Australia v India, Brabourne Stadium, March 26. Live Coverage

Fifth T20I Australia v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 28. Live Coverage

Sixth T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 29. Live Coverage

Final Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 31. Live Coverage