Tahlia McGrath opens up on her recent struggles to find form as she opted not to nominate for the WPL auctions.
A brutal game: Tahlia McGrath opens up on form struggle.
After a challenging World Cup, Australia’s vice captain Tahlia McGrath has acknowledged that she is going through the hardest time in her career and is lacking confidence.
Australia returns to the field in February with a home multi-format series against India, having not won an ODI or T20 World Cup trophy for the first time in eight years.
Australia’s next international competition is the T20 World Cup in England in June after being eliminated from the ODI World Cup by eventual champions India in the semi-finals last month.
Having led the team 15 times since 2022 and filling in for Alyssa Healy, McGrath is in an intriguing position. When the wicketkeeper retires, she and Ashleigh Gardner are the two most likely candidates to succeed Healy as captain.
However, McGrath is candid about her own form issues following a World Cup in which she had few bat and ball opportunities and scored 69 runs at 13.75.
“Cricket’s a pretty brutal game and it’s very much based around confidence,” McGrath said. “And when it’s not going your way, the world gets pretty big on you. I definitely underperformed and felt the pressure a bit.”
Asked if it had been the toughest period of her career, the 30-year-old indicated it was.
“Probably. I think you add captaincy into that, you add time away from home,” McGrath said. “And, obviously, when you lose a World Cup, it’s pretty hard to get over as well. It’s been a challenging time.
“As much as I was doing everything possible to get us playing some finals cricket [in the WBBL], I was hanging out for a bit of a break.”
McGrath chose not to nominate for the WPL in India next month, giving her a unique opportunity to play for South Australia prior to the multi-format series against India.
In addition, she hasn’t picked up a bat since the WBBL concluded two weeks ago, ahead of South Australia’s return to 50-over cricket next month.
“It’s properly distancing myself at the moment,” she said. “There’s not much point in me picking up a bat.
“I wouldn’t achieve much. So, it’s get away from the game, go for walks along the beach, play a bit of golf, see some friends and family. And just refresh, get that energy back and put in the work after Christmas.”