Meg Lanning picks Women's World Cup semi-final winners

New Delhi [India], October 29 (ANI): Former Australia captain Meg Lanning has predicted the teams she expects to win the semi-finals at the ICC Women's Cricket World Cup and pinpointed the player that must dominate for each side, as per the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
Lanning knows better than most what is required to win a knockout contest at an ICC event, with the former Australia captain having been a part of two successful ICC Women's Cricket World Cup campaigns and won a whopping five ICC Women's T20 World Cup titles throughout her glittering career.
The Australian legend looked in depth at both semi-finals of the World Cup with host Nikhil Uttamchandani on the most recent episode of The ICC Review and provided her thoughts on who will come out on top.
Lanning has been impressed with both sides at times during the World Cup but thinks England's greater depth might prove pivotal in the outcome of this knockout contest.
"I think England have been building nicely throughout the tournament, and their key players are playing well," Lanning predicted, as quoted from the official website of ICC.
"You've got Nat Sciver-Brunt, Heather Knight and Sophie Ecclestone, who's done really well through the tournament," she noted.
"If they get some contributions from a couple of others, then they're a pretty dangerous team," she added.
Lanning believes former England captain and long-time rival Heather Knight will step up for England, given her ability to perform well in knockout matches.
"Heather Knight has got that really calm nature, which is really important in big games," Lanning suggested.
"I think she takes the pressure off Nat Sciver-Brunt and allows her to just play and dominate. So I feel like she's the most important player for them," she said.
Lanning also suggested Proteas all-rounder Marizanne Kapp as the player that needs to play well if South Africa are to come out on top.
"And then for South Africa, it is hard to go past Marizanne Kapp," Lanning noted.
"I think her ability to impact the game with both bat and ball is going to be crucial for them," she said.
"She also just lifts the energy of the group when she really gets that fire in her eyes and takes the game on," she added.
"So I think if she can impact the game pretty early with bat or ball, then that will give South Africa some good confidence," she noted.
Lanning knows how dangerous India will be with a parochial home crowd cheering them on but thinks her former side may prove a little too strong in this semi-final matchup.
"I think Australia has just got incredible depth," Lanning commenced.
"They've shown throughout the tournament that they're not reliant on one or two players, and even if they do lose some early wickets with the bat, there's some real big power towards the backend that can sort of get them out of different situations," she said.
Lanning believes India will miss the scoring power of injured opener Pratika Rawal and thinks the time is right for skipper Harmanpreet Kaur to step up.
"For India I'm going to go with Captain Harmanpreet Kaur," Lanning said.
"She's had a good tournament, but she's probably yet to really explode and dominate a game," she added.
"And for me, that makes me a touch nervous because it feels like she's due to do that," she noted.
"And when she gets going, she's pretty impossible to stop so she's the key player for India," she said.
Lanning is predicting former teammate Beth Mooney as a crucial cog for the Aussies.
"For Australia it has to be Beth Mooney, as she can come in at any situation in the innings and adapt accordingly," Lanning said.
"If there's a really good foundation set, she's able to keep that momentum going," she added.
"And we've also seen that if there are a couple of quick wickets, she's able to sort of work her way through those innings," she noted.
"So we've seen through the tournament that there have been clumps of wickets falling. So I think the players who can manoeuvre their way through those situations have become really important, especially in big crunch games," she said. (ANI)