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Australia's somewhat patchy path to the Women's World Cup semi-finals has continued, with captain Meg Lanning to miss a second match in the pool stages because of an ongoing shoulder injury.
Experienced bench player Rachael Haynes will again come from outside the playing XI to captain the side for Australia's last qualifying match against South Africa in Taunton, with deputy Alex Blackwell remaining second in charge rather than taking the reins.
Australia has already secured a semi-final berth, with the only question being whether it finishes top and plays the fourth-placed team in Bristol, or second to meet the third-placed team in Derby.
Lanning is Australia's most important player, with far and away the best batting record in women's cricket. Yet the match against South Africa will be the second of Australia's six pool matches she will have missed.
She made a stunning unbeaten 152 against Sri Lanka to avert a possible upset, recorded 48 and 40 briskly against New Zealand and England respectively, and then was again unbeaten for 76 against India.
All of this has been done with a shoulder problem that has visibly hampered her at times.
During the England knock she ran up and down the pitch holding her right arm cocked against her body, and her stroke-making seemed largely limited to shovelling the ball to the leg side.
Even in this condition, she is still worth any other player in the game thanks to her timing and versatility. The runs she has produced prove that. Australia team authorities, though, do not want to risk aggravating the injury except for crunch matches.
The shoulder condition is chronic rather than urgent, meaning Lanning can play through the discomfort but wants to take breaks where she can. The pool match against a still-winless Pakistan was one such opportunity, while this fine-tuning exercise against South Africa is another.
What it does not do is help Australia fine-tune with the XI they will likely use in the semi-final itself. Though given the amount of deliveries Lanning faces, perhaps that is a good thing in terms of giving the rest of the order a chance to bat.
Lanning finished her last match against India on 2,999 career runs in one-day internationals, robbed by a lack of available runs of becoming the equal-fastest to 3,000 runs in terms of innings faced.
Against Sri Lanka she came in after 12 balls and batted to the close.
Lanning's record is undeniable. But with fitness remaining an issue, there is a weakness there for opponents to exploit if they are good enough. You can guarantee England will be developing plans in case of meeting Australia in the final.
As for South Africa, there is a fair chance of playing Australia twice in a row — this pool match, then the semi-final. Perhaps it is no coincidence and Lanning wants to deny those bowlers two looks at her in a row.
Either way, the question hovers. Not bad enough to stop her playing when she needs to, but bad enough to stop her when she does not have to. Will it affect her in the finals? Can she bat through?
With "ongoing management", the injury will "be assessed on a daily basis", which is all well and good. But the World Cup final is now just over a week away.
Topics: cricket, sport, england, united-kingdom