Australia women take on New Zealand women in Twenty20 match on Thursday

Australia and New Zealand women, close neighbours and close rivals are ready to go head-to-head again in Darwin when the Rose Bowl Series begins later this month. The action kicks off with a Twenty20 game on 19 July, while the series of five ODIs will be played from 21 to 29 July.

Although the series has provided tremendous excitement and thrills since it began in February 1985, there has been just one winner this decade - Australia. And such has been its dominance that it has won 27 out of 30 matches since 2000 when it lost the Women's Cricket World Cup final to New Zealand by four runs.

Overall, the two teams have played 17 series with Australia winning 15 and New Zealand's only successes coming in 1995 and 1999. Out of 58 matches to date, Australia has won 43 and New Zealand 14, while one match, the 1986 series decider was rained off.

Despite being odds-on favourites to maintain its winning spree, Australia captain Karen Rolton is not reading much into those statistics and insists her team will have to be at its brilliant best to knock out Haidee Tiffen's girls.

"Every time we play New Zealand, we are ready for a tough, hard-fought series," said Rolton who won the inaugural ICC Women's Player of the Year award at the ICC Awards in Mumbai last year.

"Each series we play, the result can go either way. I know if we don't play to our potential, the Kiwis can beat us. They push us to play our best cricket every game we play against them."

Tiffen is giving equal respect to Australia but said she enjoys the challenge that Australia throws at her team. "We love playing Australia, she said.

"We enjoy the rivalry the two countries have but, most importantly, we love being challenged by the best team in the world. I know both teams are very competitive and equally looking forward to meeting each other. It will be a great series.

"I know our team is working hard and have recently had a training camp where we have reflected on how far we have come in the last year and where we want to move forward to," added Tiffen.

In the 2006 Rose Bowl Series, the world champions won the first three matches by the skin of its teeth before sweeping the series. And earlier this year in Chennai where India and England were the other participants in the quadrangular series, Australia bounced back after losing a league match against the White Ferns to win the final by six wickets.

"The 2006 Rose Bowl, despite the results, was a great series and showed really how close the teams are," said Tiffen.

"Yes, we cracked under the pressure and Australia on each day played with cooler, calmer heads but they are world champs and to have that title you have to have many strengths.

"I believe we were competitive and a lot of positive things came out of the series. This was shown with how far our team came in six months at the quadrangular series in India. We can only keep moving forward," she added.

Rolton, who is 61 runs short of becoming only the third woman after compatriot Belinda Clark (4,844) and New Zealand's Debbie Hockley (4,064) to complete 4,000 ODI runs, echoed Tiffen's words: "This series will definitely be a close one as it was in India and in the Rose Bowl series in October last year. I don't think there is too much difference between the two teams. Any team can win on the day," she said.

The Rose Bowl Series will launch the post-retirement era of two of women's cricket's biggest names, Australia's Cathryn Fitzpatrick and New Zealand's Rebecca Rolls. Both players hung up their boots after the quadrangular series final in Chennai following illustrious careers.

Former fast bowler Fitzpatrick took 60 wickets in 13 Tests and 180 wickets in 109 ODIs while Rolls, a gutsy wicketkeeper/batsman, scored 71 in her only Test appearance against England in 2004 but scored 2,201 runs in 104 ODIs besides accounting for a record 133 batsmen behind the wickets.

Rolton, who played with and against both the players, now hopes the younger generation is ready to take up the challenge of replacing Fitzpatrick and Rolls.

"They have been fantastic players over the years and I have really enjoyed playing with Cathryn and against Rebecca," she said.

"Both were great competitors and will be sorely missed by both the countries. They are big shoes to fill and I'm sure the players next in line are ready for the challenge."

Players bidding to fill those shoes are New Zealand's 20-year-old fast bowler Amy Satterthwaite and 22-year-old wicketkeeper Rachel Priest, and Australia's 16-year-old school girl Ellyse Perry.

Perry, in particular, is considered a genuine all-round prospect and she toured New Zealand with the Australian under-23 team earlier this year, and Rolton admits her excitement at having the teenager in the team despite having not seen her in action.

"I personally have never met Ellyse or seen her play but I have heard some very positive comments about her. She had a good youth series and did very well in a lead-up game against the New Zealand team both with bat and ball.

"I think she will develop into a very handy player for us and, with the experience of this tour, I feel she will only get better as she gets older. It's very exciting to have her in the team and I can't wait to see how she develops over time with her game."

Teams: New Zealand: Haidee Tiffen (captain), Nicola Browne, Sophie Devine, Maria Fahey, Sara McGlashan, Beth McNeill, Aimee Mason, Rowan Milburn (wk), Louise Milliken, Rachel Priest (wk), Amy Satterthwaite, Sarah Tsukigawa, Helen Watson.

Australia: Sarah Andrews, Alex Blackwell, Kate Blackwell, Kris Britt, Melissa Bulow, Sarah Edwards, Shelley Nitschke, Ellyse Perry, Jodie Purves (wk), Karen Rolton (captain), Emma Sampson, Clea Smith, Lisa Sthalekar.