Australia women hoping to come to terms with UAE heat on priority as they look to defend their T20 World Cup title.
Australia women hope to get back into shape and get some heat adaptation in ahead of the competition in the United Arab Emirates next month. On Thursday, they will begin play in a series of warm-up games against New Zealand.
Australia women have experienced a unique extended period of time off between overseas postings. Since their limited overs trip of Bangladesh in March and April, they have not played.
In August, several members of Australia’s squad participated in the women’s Hundred in the UK. During the most recent Australia A limited-overs series against India A, Tahlia McGrath was just one of 15 players in the Australian side.
One of the rare teams that hasn’t played international cricket in a few months is Australia. England and Ireland have clashed, and Pakistan and South Africa have faced up. In June and July, New Zealand, Australia’s opponents, conducted a thorough tour of England.
The Northern Superchargers’ Phoebe Litchfield thinks the reigning champs shouldn’t have too much rust. Litchfield played in the Hundred. She did point out, though, that the group needed to acclimatise to the heat before leaving for the UAE.
“It’s going to be hot. Not too dissimilar to Bangladesh,” Litchfield said on Tuesday. “So our preparation continues the same, and we’re probably going to do some heat acclimation over the next sort of week. But I think being Australian, we’re really suited to hot weather, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.”
The 21-year-old Litchfield hasn’t participated in a World Cup. Litchfield was not included in the team that went on to win the title, despite having made her debut for her country soon before the 2023 World Cup in South Africa.
For the World Cup, Litchfield didn’t know if she would start or not. Thoughts are that she’ll likely bat in the middle order once more.
“I assume it’s probably going to be similar to what I’ve been doing before if I do play,” Litchfield said. “It’ll be going through the middle order and hopefully building off the back of some top-order brilliance.”