New Zealand T20 team a 'huge test' - Australia women's coach

The three-match T20I series against "benchmark team" New Zealand later this month will be a "huge test" and help Australia evaluate their standing in the format ahead of the World T20 in November, according to the women's team coach Matthew Mott.

"New Zealand have been the most consistent side in the format in the past couple of years. They are a benchmark team so we'll have a great gauge of where we're at," Mott told cricket.com.au.

While Australia enter the series confident, on the back of a tri-series win against India and England in March, where they also posted their highest ever total of 209 in the format - a world record since broken by New Zealand and then England - they have a winless streak against New Zealand dating back to 2012, to correct. Since then, the two teams have played three bilateral T20 series and New Zealand won each of them 2-1.

"We definitely made a step forward in India with the style of cricket we played, even cricket fans I've spoken to back here have really noted just how much the players embraced that style of play we'd be calling for," Mott said. "I think we have taken a lot of confidence from the India tour, but in this format New Zealand are as good an opposition we can hope to play."

The last time the sides met in the shortest format of the game in early 2017, Australia's batsmen let them down as they failed to chase down low totals in the second and third matches, after taking a lead with a 40-run win in the series opener. But Mott felt they were better equipped to handling similar situations now, should they be confronted by them in the upcoming series.

"We look back at the series we played against them and we probably lost that, rather than they won, because we bowled them out for 100 a couple of times and should have got over the line but didn't. This a series that if we get in the same position as last time, I think we're equipped to finish the job and that'll be the growth that hopefully we've seen over that time."

The three-match T20 series commences on September 29 at the North Sydney Oval.