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Southern Stars out to bounce back in T20

The Southern Stars face Sri Lanka as they seek to bounce back from a loss to New Zealand and shore up their place in the World Twenty20 semi-finals.

The Australian women's cricket team
The Southern Stars are set for a pay rise. Source: AAP

Australia have bounced back from losses at the women's World Twenty20 in the past and will do so again, according to batter Beth Mooney.

New Zealand, the side considered most likely to deny the Southern Stars a fourth straight T20 title, strolled to a six-wicket win in a trans-Tasman clash earlier this week in Nagpur.

Australia need to trump Sri Lanka on Thursday (9pm AEDT) to shore up their place in the World T20 semi-finals.

It will be the side's inaugural T20 meeting with Sri Lanka.

The Southern Stars dropped pool games at the 2012 and 2014 World T20 events but progressed to the knock-out phase and delivered their best when it mattered most.

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Mooney, who finished 15 not out and was one of four players to make it to double figures in the recent loss to NZ, is confident the Southern Stars can turn things around quickly again.

"We've had bumps along the road in previous World Cups, so it's not really an issue for us," Mooney told AAP.

"If anything it's a good motivation for us to do really well in the next couple of games, really make a statement.

"We can get knocked down once but that'll be it for the rest of the tournament.

"We'll be bigger and better next game."

Mooney suggested the squad remained in good spirits, having quickly turned their attention to remaining pool clashes with Sri Lanka and Ireland in Delhi.

"It's important to let losses like that go as quickly as you can," she said.

"You take what you can out of it. We'll find things to work on but we're now focused on Sri Lanka."

Mooney is one of few players in Australia's squad with an idea of what to expect from Sri Lanka's spinners.

"I don't think a lot of the players in the squad have played them much. I'm quite lucky, I've been on a couple of Shooting Stars tours to Sri Lanka," the 22-year-old said.

"Hopefully I can use that to my advantage if I get the opportunity and pass on some knowledge as well."


2 min read

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Source: AAP


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