Australia Women will lock horns with South Africa Women in the first T20I match of the South Africa Women Tour of Australia at the Manuka Oval in Canberra on January 27. Both these teams have been good in this format in the recent matches as they both have lost just two games each. The series is going to be an interesting one for both these teams.

Australia Women had last squared off against India Women, where the toss was won by Australia as they elected to field. India had started well with both openers looking good, and had an opening stand of 39 runs. They kept scoring steadily at the same rate throughout the middle overs as well. However, they could not finish accordingly and had 147 runs on the board by the end. Australia had started exceedingly well in return as both their openers smashed their half-centuries each. They lost a couple of wickets but chased down the total easily winning the match by seven wickets.

South Africa Women had fought against Bangladesh Women in their last match, where South Africa Women had won the toss and elected to field. Bangladesh had a horrible start to the match as none of their top-order batters could even have a score in double digits. Their middle order took some responsibility and steadied the ship but could only get to an under-par total of 94. South Africa, in reply, were not in too hurry and played the innings sensibly. Skipper, Wolvaardt played a fantastic knock and helped her team win the game by eight wickets with around five overs to spare.

The presence of Healy is still doubtful

The track at the Manuka Oval in Canberra is quite helpful to batters in nature. Pacers are expected to do well here with good seam and swing movement off the pitch. Batters, once settled can look to score big. Teams prefer to chase the total after winning the toss, with the average first innings score being 129.