'Keen to change T20I record against New Zealand' – Meg Lanning

Australia, who have won the World T20 title three times, have 19 defeats and only 15 wins in 35 matches against New Zealand in the shortest format. The White Ferns have won the last two bilateral T20I series, in 2016-17 and 2015-16.

"It's something we're keen to change," admitted Lanning on the eve of the first match on Saturday, 29 September. "We've struggled to control their batters up top. Suzie Bates has played quite well against us in the past and really controlled their innings. We haven't been able to gain any momentum with the bat against them.

"But our players are much different to when we last played them two years ago in a T20I series. We've evolved as a team, especially our batting line-up, to be able to deal with their attack and we're confident that if we do play to our strengths, we'll get the results that we want."

Lanning was pleased with the form shown by personnel in her side going into the series. They enjoyed a good hit in the practice game on Thursday, winning by nine wickets, and the captain hoped the team would carry forward the "fearless" cricket that they began playing back in March-April, when they won the T20I tri-series in India.

"If you sit back and wait for things to happen, the game passes you by real quick, so you need to try and stay ahead and make sure you push your position," she added.

New Zealand, meanwhile, will be playing their first series under a new captain in Satterthwaite, who was delighted with the prospect of a competitive series ahead of the World T20 in the Caribbean.

"It allows us to work out exactly what our best XI is, to start to formulate our plans and get some clarity moving into the tournament," she said.

Having been vice-captain for long under Bates, Satterthwaite didn't believe the team would have too much change to get used to. "I'm similar to Suzie in that I'm a pretty laidback person," she said. "But also I look to get confidence into the girls. When you play this particular sport, it can be up and down, quite cruel at times, so the more we can be in a confident place, the [better] we can execute on the park."

The White Ferns had a tough practice match against Cricket Australia XI, waiting till the last over to win by five wickets. "We'd much rather have a game like that than an easy one," insisted Satterthwaite.

"The beautiful thing for me was that we had players stepping up that haven't in the past and finished off the game for us. At times we've probably relied too much on the likes of Suzie and Sophie [Devine] at the top to set the tone, so it was pleasing for me."

Going into the World T20, her focus was on flexibility, especially with the bowling. "We've been blessed with a lot of variation and skill sets ... for me that's exciting that we have variety that can be useful in any conditions.

"[But] from my point of view, I want our bowlers to be able to bowl in any conditions and not be pigeonholed into suiting certain conditions because if we can achieve that, it'll make us a lot harder to beat."