Australia v New Zealand: first women's one-day international – live!

Good morning everybody and welcome to live coverage of the first ODI in the three-match series between Australia and New Zealand. Play will be underway from Allan Border Field in Brisbane at 10.10am (AEDT).

For Australia, this is a series with history on the line. Sweep the three matches and Meg Lanning’s outfit will extend their unbeaten run in the format to 21, drawing them level with their male counterparts from 2003.

And they have good reason to be optimistic about their chances. They’ve just completed a T20 series victory over their trans-Tasman rivals, they dominate the ODI rivalry with the White Ferns, they love Allan Border Field, and heck – they are just very good at international cricket, and have been for a very long time.

Perhaps the only question mark over Australia’s chances is the absence of superstar allrounder Ellyse Perry who will miss the series after injuring her hamstring.

This is Australia’s first ODI for 12 months with T20s and the pandemic intervening, so there could be a little rust to brush off in this opening contest. But the pain of failing to secure the 2017 World Cup still burns and every opportunity to prepare to regain the trophy is being relished.

“There was a lot of soul searching,” admitted Jess Jonassen earlier this week. “We took a lot of good, hard looks at ourselves. What can we do to not only push the boundaries or play good positive cricket but play some cricket that’s entertaining and a lot of fun? It took a few series before we fully trusted in that process. Now it’s almost something that’s become second nature and part of the way we go about things.”

That’s enough for now. I’ll be back shortly with the toss and the line-ups. If you want to join in the conversation, you can get in touch via Twitter or email.