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Stability key to juggling for Aussie women

3 minute read

Australia's women cricketers have the busiest year in their history ahead of the T20 World Cup but similarity in their squad will help them juggle formats.

ELYSE VILLANI of the Scorchers bats during the Women's Big Bash League match between the Perth Scorchers and the Hobart Hurricanes at WACA in Perth, Australia.
ELYSE VILLANI of the Scorchers bats during the Women's Big Bash League match between the Perth Scorchers and the Hobart Hurricanes at WACA in Perth, Australia. Picture: Will Russell/Getty Images

Australia's women cricketers will call on the kind of stability their male counterparts can only dream of as they begin the busiest 12 months in the team's history.

Thursday will mark one year until Australia begin their Twenty20 World Cup defence when they take on India in Sydney.

Meanwhile, they host New Zealand in a one-day series this month, play a multi-formatted Ashes series this winter, head to the West Indies for ODIs and T20s before hosting Sri Lanka in similar series and then take on India and England in a tri-series.

However as they juggle both formats and a hectic schedule, the consistency in their squad and familiar approach to the game will work in their favour.

Australia's women have used 24 players across 42 games in both white-ball formats in the past two years, compared with a whopping 41 across 47 ODIs and T20s by the men's team.

"That makes it quite easy to adapt to both formats," middle-order bat Elyse Villani told AAP.

"Because we want to play an aggressive brand of cricket for both T20 and 50-over, the people who are in the best T20 team are generally in the best 50-over team and vice-versa.

"Motty (coach Matthew Mott) always speaks about as a batter you're never going to get questioned by taking a positive approach regardless of the format ... Our intent is absolutely to play a positive brand of cricket and be real aggressive."

The team are also keen to use the hectic schedule to their advantage.

They'll play each of the teams in their round-robin group between now and the tournament, as well as each of last year's semi-finalists.

"(We're) looking at our smaller goals knowing that the T20 World Cup is going to be our big goal post-Ashes," Villani said.

"We want to make sure we stay No.1 in both formats and really be a force to be reckoned with by the time we get to the T20 World Cup and have inflicted a few scars on our opponents along the way."

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