How do Australia replace Ellyse Perry for the semi-final?

Australia know there is no like-for-like replacement for Ellyse Perry, whose T20 World Cup was ended - on the field, at least - by a severe hamstring injury, and there is a chance that a player who has not appeared in the group stage will be summoned for the semi-final against South Africa.

Allrounder Sophie Molineux will be in the mix for her first appearance of the competition if she comes through her latest fitness test on the troublesome thigh injury, which has plagued her for three weeks. Whatever route Australia take for their final XI, it will further test their much-vaunted depth following the pre-tournament loss of pace bowler Tayla Vlaeminck.

"We've got a few options we are looking at to replace Ellyse, obviously we can't truly replace her but we feel like we have a number of different options," captain Meg Lanning said. "I think we've shown we don't rely on one or two players and I think that's really important, especially in the T20 format, that you have a number of different people who can contribute under difference circumstances. We've shown that throughout and again heading into this semi-final I'm extremely confident that we've got the firepower to deliver and get the win."

Despite her injury, Perry has been retained in the 15-player squad so she can continue to have a role around the team for the semi-final and, Australia hope, the final at the MCG. If she had been replaced, she would have lost access to the dressing room and Lanning believes she can continue to bring significant value even from the sidelines.

"She's a very experienced player and big-game player as well. She knows what it takes to perform under pressure. That's going to be really handy for us tomorrow. We have had our meetings and everything. She has been a really good contributor, and always is. She's kept a really brave face for the team. She's dealing with it as well as she could have."

Clearly, there are huge shoes to fill and Perry's absence could well lead to more than one change in Australia's XI as they try to seek the right balance. Here are the players who will be in the mix:

Burns underwent knee surgery shortly before Australia named their squad for the World Cup and did not play any of the tri-series matches against India and England. It means her last competitive cricket was the Australia A-India A series before Christmas. She has only batted once in her five T20Is to date when she came in at No. 3 against Sri Lanka earlier this season and hit 30 off 18 balls. Burns is probably the strongest of the batting options available to fill Perry's slot although she had a reasonably lean WBBL with 175 runs in 13 innings, including one half century.

A thigh injury, which has refused to clear up as quickly as the Australia camp had hoped, has kept Molineux sidelined since the tri-series after she had put in an impressive display of 3 for 19 against England. The strength of Australia's top order has meant that she has only batted in five of her 19 T20Is, but in the WBBL she is a regular at the top for the Melbourne Renegades. Her inclusion in place of Perry would alter the balance of the attack with her left-arm spin replacing Perry's right-arm pace.

Kimmince played in the first two matches of the tournament against India and Sri Lanka before Australia changed tactics and brought in legspinner Georgia Wareham. Against India, she took 1 for 24 off her four overs and, bowling wise, is the most direct replacement for Perry as a bustling seamer. She is a hard-hitting lower-order batter as shown during the tri-series when she hauled Australia to a Super Over against England alongside Annabel Sutherland.

She was called up as the replacement for Vlaeminck and barely 24 hours after being brought into the squad was delivering the first over of the tournament against India. She played the first two matches, taking a handy 2 for 23 against Sri Lanka, and given Australia have lost a new-ball option in Perry, it could be that Strano comes back into the mix given that is one of her specialties. However, she would be the weakest batting option of the squad players.