Australia try to fill Fitzpatrick gap

It's easy to be conned by statistics. Australia beat New Zealand 5-0 in last year's Rose Bowl and New Zealand have won two of the past 23 contests between the teams. However, the two sides are closely matched and the five-game ODI series starting at Darwin on Saturday could give New Zealand their best chance yet of regaining the Rose Bowl for the first time since 1998-99.

The one-sided result at Brisbane last October was misleading - the first three fixtures went down to the final over and Australia won by margins of one run, one wicket and five runs. They also met three times in the quadrangular series at Chennai in February and March, where New Zealand prevailed in the opening match before Australia were successful in the final.

This time Australia will be without their recently-retired fast-bowling star Cathryn Fitzpatrick as well as Kirsten Pike, whose fast-medium offerings have brought 13 wickets at 15.53 against New Zealand. Leah Poulton has been omitted despite scoring 101 and 68 in consecutive innings in her debut series at the previous Rose Bowl. Karen Rolton will play but is returning from her second knee operation.

That combination of factors should inspire New Zealand, although they too have lost an experienced campaigner with the retirement of their wicketkeeper-batsman Rebecca Rolls. Lisa Keightley, who started as Australia's coach last week, is expecting a typically tight contest and believes Australia has the psychological edge.

"New Zealand were the hardest team that I had to play in my career," Keightley said. "But there's a lot of close games in the WNCL [Women's National Cricket League] so the girls are used to the pressure."

There will be plenty of pressure on Ellyse Perry, Australia's 16-year-old fast-bowling allrounder, who is set to become the youngest Australian to debut. Keightley described Perry as "very talented and mature about her cricket" and said she would almost certainly play at Darwin. Perry, who is hoping to become a dual international by representing the Australian women's soccer team soon after the Rose Bowl, met some of her team-mates for the first time at a bowling camp late last month.

One of those colleagues was Clea Smith, who is now the most experienced member of Australia's pace attack after the departure of her fellow Victorian Fitzpatrick. Smith is confident Perry can play a role at Darwin but she tipped Emma Sampson to become the key strike bowler.

"I think I've played a total of about three state or national games without her [Fitzpatrick], so it will be a bit weird," Smith said. "But it'll give myself and the other bowlers a chance to step up. I'd love to impart my experience on the rest of the group and that's partly just leading by example, but also making a conscious effort to get them involved and talking about the game. That's an area that we will miss Cathryn - she was always on the sidelines, challenging us in our thinking."

Smith's own form against New Zealand has been unexceptional compared to her overall ODI record. However, she hopes her figures might improve thanks to the absence of Rolls, who Smith said was one of the hardest batsmen to contain in the early overs.

"Rebecca Rolls has been as much of a key player for them as Fitzy has for us," Smith said. The series is introduced with a Twenty20 match at Darwin's Gardens Oval on Thursday before the five-game Rose Bowl begins at the same venue with back-to-back matches on Saturday and Sunday.

Australia squad Sarah Andrews, Alex Blackwell, Kate Blackwell, Kris Britt, Melissa Bulow, Sarah Edwards, Shelley Nitschke, Ellyse Perry, Jodie Purves (wk), Karen Rolton (capt), Emma Sampson, Clea Smith, Lisa Sthalekar.

New Zealand squad Nicola Browne, Sophie Devine, Maria Fahey, Sara McGlashan, Beth McNeill, Aimee Mason, Rowan Milburn (wk), Louise Milliken, Rachel Priest (wk), Amy Satterthwaite, Haidee Tiffen (capt), Sarah Tsukigawa, Helen Watson.