Six nations have descended on Canberra for five World Cup matches at Manuka Oval, with Pakistan set to begin their campaign against the West Indies on Wednesday.

They'll be joined by their Group B rivals England, South Africa and Thailand, while Australia play Bangladesh in the other pool.

Pakistan have never advanced to the semi-finals in their six appearances at the World Cup, but England and Australia's opening-round losses has strengthened their cause to dream.

World No.6 South Africa beat England by six wickets with two balls to spare on Sunday, while India stunned Australia by 17 runs.

Pakistan are the second lowest-ranked team in their group behind England, South Africa and the West Indies. Fast bowler Aiman Anwer says the gap between nations is closing and takes confidence in the changing playing field.

"It gives us a boost that the lower-ranked teams have the capacity and have been able to beat the big teams," Anwer said.

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"So this tournament is open for all of us. We have so far learned we are also capable of beating the best teams here."

Anwer will make her World Cup debut at Manuka Oval on Wednesday night and is also playing in Australia for the first time.

Pakistan have been training under lights this week to adjust to the conditions as well as the venue's flat wicket.

Manuka Oval has the reputation of being a batter's paradise and Anwer says they've had plenty of practice on similar decks.

"We found the wickets similar to those we've been practising on in Pakistan," Anwer said.

"Maybe because of the rain the wickets are slow, so this works in our favour. We'd like to keep going with this.

"We've had a late start [to the tournament] but it's given us time to practice, so we just can't wait for the game to start.

"We know winning our first game would give us a boost and we want to have a good match, mainly. The result will definitely matter moving forward and we want to win."

The West Indies were tested by Thailand in their World Cup opener, beating the minnow nation by seven wickets in Perth on Saturday.

They haven't played in Canberra since losing to Australia by six runs in 2014, a T20 match batter Hayley Matthews fondly looks back on.

The 21-year-old from Barbados equaled Ellyse Perry with 62 not out and a strike rate of 119.23, a feat she's eager to replicate when she returns on Wednesday.

"It was a pretty good wicket, so I hope over the last couple of years it's gotten even better and we can get some good scores in the first match," Matthews said.

"We're hoping to win all of our games. The World Cup is a huge tournament and whoever makes the least mistakes will come out on top.

"Hopefully we can get there, execute our plans and keep momentum rolling into the big games.

"There's a lot of dangerous teams in this group, so it's going to be challenging for us. We've come here with a strong team and we're feeling confident, we just need to go our there and win."

T20 WORLD CUP

Fixtures at Manuka Oval: