Lanning says Cup delay will make Australia stronger

Australia captain Meg Lanning believes her No.1 ranked team can find yet another level thanks to the postponement of the 2021 ODI World Cup.

Lanning is looking for the positives after the ICC announced earlier this month the quadrennial tournament, to be played in New Zealand, had been pushed back to early 2022 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Australia were knocked out of the semi-final of the last event in mid-2017 but have since evolved into a one-day juggernaut.

They have won 20 of 21 ODIs played since that World Cup defeat, including their last 18 matches on the trot – a record in the women’s game.

Australia’s last defeat in the format was in October 2017 and they are aiming to equal the overall record of 21 consecutive wins held by Ricky Ponting’s Australian team in 2003 when they host New Zealand next month.

Still, Lanning can see how an extra year of planning could make an already enviable unit even stronger – particularly given their heavy focus on the 20-over format over the past several years, which saw them take out both the 2018 and 2020 T20 World cups.

"It gives us a good chance to evolve our game a bit and try a few things," Lanning told SEN on Tuesday.

"We’ve got some new players in the squad as well.

"We’ll try and work out the best combinations how we can play our best cricket leading into that 2022 year."

Australia have added three players to the group of 15 who took out the T20 World Cup in March for the upcoming matches against New Zealand: allrounder Tahlia McGrath and pace bowlers Maitlan Brown and Belinda Vakarewa.

"Those girls really deserve their opportunity, they bring something different and some really good pace options," Lanning said following the squad announcement last Friday.

"We feel we have really good variety within the group, both with pace and spin, so looking forward to welcoming the girls into the squad.

"It’s great to have new faces, it really brings good energy and keeps everyone on their toes."

Next month’s three ODIs and three T20s are currently the only international matches on the schedule for Lanning’s team, although it is hoped a return trip to New Zealand will be made early next year in the gap left by the postponed World Cup.

They are also likely to be the first international women’s matches played since the start of the pandemic, after South Africa pulled out of a planned visit to England early next month.

After the T20 World Cup final attracted 86,174 fans to the MCG, the Australian captain hopes the matches against the White Ferns will allow the momentum around the women’s game to continue.

"That’s really important for the women’s game to try and build off the World Cup," she said.

"It’s hard to know what the impact of the break will be, but hopefully the momentum hasn’t been halted too much … the New Zealand series is a great chance to get women’s cricket front of mind again, so hopefully everyone jumps on board and we keep building the sport."

Lanning meanwhile has been grappling with life in lockdown amid the ‘stage 4’ government restrictions in Melbourne.

Victoria’s men’s and women’s teams have been granted an exemption to continue training, albeit with strict limitations, while outside of those sessions, Lanning – and everyone else in metropolitan Melbourne – is permitted one hour of outdoor exercise per day.

"It’s been a challenge not being as active as I’d like, the one-hour limit cuts that back a fair but," Lanning admitted.

"(But) we’ve been lucky enough to get an exemption to train … it’s quite restricted, we’ve got three half-days throughout the week.

"As professionals we’ve been used to training every day and spending quite a lot of time working on our game, so we’ve had to become a lot more efficient than we perhaps were, and trying to really target specific areas we want to work on.

"But we’re lucky we’ve got that exemption and are able to keep training, we know a lot of people have lost their jobs and aren’t able to get out of the house at all so we’re very thankful for that opportunity."