Australia, the three-time defending champions of the Women’s T20 World Cup, are getting ready for next month’s tournament in the UAE by playing a warm-up series against New Zealand. The series starts on Thursday in Mackay, Australia.
The Australian women’s cricket team hasn’t played international matches since their tour of Bangladesh in March and April. This break is unusual for them. However, some of the players, like Phoebe Litchfield, took part in the Women’s Hundred competition in the UK in August. Tahlia McGrath was the only one from Australia’s 15-player squad who played in the recent Australia A series against India A.
Unlike Australia, many other teams have been active. Pakistan and South Africa have been playing against each other, while England and Ireland also had matches. New Zealand, Australia’s current opponent, had a long tour of England in June and July.
Phoebe Litchfield, who played for the Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, thinks Australia’s players won’t be too rusty despite the break, as most have been playing somewhere. However, she did mention that the team needs to adjust to the heat before heading to the UAE.
“It’s going to be hot. Similar to the weather in Bangladesh,” Litchfield said on Tuesday. “Our preparation stays the same, but we’ll probably do some heat training over the next week and a half to get ready. Being Australian, we’re used to hot weather, so hopefully, it won’t be too hard.”
Litchfield said the team was disappointed the tournament had to be moved from Bangladesh for security reasons. They had learned a lot about playing in those conditions during their earlier tour.
“It’s really sad not to go to Bangladesh,” Litchfield said. “They were excited to host the tournament. But Dubai will be a good place too, and we’re looking forward to it. I checked the weather, and it looks like it’s going to be around 37°C but feel like 45°C.”
Litchfield, who is 21 years old, hasn’t played in a World Cup yet. Although she made her international debut just before the 2023 World Cup in South Africa, she wasn’t part of the squad that won the title.
Last summer, she got more chances to play in the middle order and did well, especially against the West Indies in the first series of the season. But in Bangladesh, she only played two of the three T20 matches. In the first game, she didn’t get a chance to bat, and in the second game, she opened the batting after the team changed the order to give players some time in the middle. She didn’t play the third game.
Litchfield doesn’t know if she’ll be in the starting lineup for the series against New Zealand and the World Cup, but she expects to bat in the middle order again if she plays.
“I think it will be like before. If I play, I’ll probably bat in the middle order, trying to build on the good work of the top order,” she said.
Both Australia and New Zealand arrived in Mackay on Monday. The first two matches of the series will be played on Thursday and Sunday, and the final game will take place in Brisbane next Tuesday. After that, both teams will fly straight to the UAE next Wednesday to get ready for the World Cup.
