Ashes won, Aussies brace for Kiwi quarantine

Australia did not have long to bask in their undefeated Ashes campaign on Tuesday afternoon before the reality of the upcoming ODI World Cup in New Zealand tapped them on the shoulder.

Barely an hour after Meg Lanning smacked a six down the ground to seal Australia's most dominant win of the multi-format series, both teams were lining up for their final PCR Tests before they fly to Christchurch on Thursday.

Biosecurity restrictions meant Australia's post-series celebrations were more muted than previous campaigns, and if all results come through clear on Wednesday, there will be a collective sigh of relief.

Both the Australia and England squads have been living under strict restrictions throughout the Ashes – and in the tourists' case, since mid-December – with New Zealand's strict border policy meaning there is only one flight and one opportunity to cross the Tasman for the ICC event.

Once they arrive, they will enter 10 days of what will likely be a hard hotel quarantine, and when they emerge on the other side, stringent conditions on movement look set to remain for the next six weeks – in contrast to when Australia and England both toured a 'COVID-zero' New Zealand in early 2021.

"At the moment, we don't exactly know what (quarantine) looks like, but we're prepared for the worst," Australia coach Matthew Mott said on Tuesday.

"It's a challenge for players and staff to get your head around that (and) we're also getting some different information about what it's going to look like ... so to get some clarity on that will be great when we get over there. 

"But something we've been exceptional at is just dealing with whatever comes, and I think our players deserve a lot of credit for the way they approached the series."

New Zealand recorded just over 200 community cases on Tuesday; a small number in a nation of five million, but they have a 10-day isolation period for close contacts, and a broader definition of who falls into that category than most Australian states now do.

That means any exposures, like the one that ruled Australia's men's Test captain Pat Cummins out of the second Ashes Test last December, could wreak havoc on a team's campaign. 

But Mott backed his group to deal with the conditions, no matter how onerous, as they seek the one piece of silverware currently missing from their cabinet.

"We felt as a group (coming into the Ashes), there was a real commitment just to ride with the punches and try and look at the best in every situation," he said. "We're desperate to play cricket, I think we've been starved of cricket. 

"In our group, there's a lot of mateship around, looking out for each other and seeing if everyone's going OK, and then really trying to just get on with it. 

"We know it's not perfect, and we never pretended it's going to be perfect. 

"But just trying to find somehow that resilience and being incredibly grateful for the opportunity to play in such difficult circumstances has certainly been the thing that's got us through."

Hannah Darlington, one of Australia's two travelling World Cup reserve players, withdrew from the tournament due to mental health and wellbeing concerns on Tuesday and has been replaced by Tasmania allrounder Heather Graham.

Mott explained Darlington, who was in Australia's Ashes squad but did not feature in the XI, had been feeling the toll of a long summer, which started when she entered hard quarantine in Queensland in August ahead of the India series, before a WBBL season spent entirely on the road.

The 20-year-old made her T20I and ODI debuts in 2021 and was included in the WBBL Team of the Tournament while also captaining the Sydney Thunder in Rachael Haynes' absence.

"I think it's a very brave decision that she's made," Mott said. "She's just felt that she's lost a little bit of the enjoyment factor in the last few months ... the toll of the amount of cricket that she's played, she's a young player that's certainly been exposed to a lot of leadership opportunities ... she'll have some time out of the game. 

"I think it's been managed incredibly well behind the scenes by Pete Clark, our sports psych, and she'll get all the resources to help her get back in, spend some time at home, recalibrate and hopefully come back stronger."

Speaking after Tuesday's game, England captain Heather Knight acknowledged the toll bubble life had taken on her team, who spent Christmas isolated from friends and family and had to train only with members of their own households for the fortnight before they left Australia.

She called on the International Cricket Council to ensure the welfare of the competing teams would be paramount throughout the tournament.

"It's never easy touring in a COVID world, it's not the easiest to captain either with different things going on, but that's the world we live in," Knight said. 

"We've been able to get the cricket on ... and obviously it's been tough living in a bubble when you've not been successful, we probably haven't experienced that (before).

"It's tricky, I'll be honest, living under restrictions ... as a team we've gone through a lot as well, we've done it for two years in various levels of restrictions and it's not easy. 

"New Zealand isn't ideal, it's the hardest country in the world to get into at the moment so that obviously puts a lot of strain on the players, and I think administrators and the ICC, et cetera, need to make sure that they're putting player welfare first."

After Australia leave quarantine, they will have a fortnight to prepare for their tournament opener on March 5, including practice matches in Christchurch against West Indies and New Zealand.

They will meet a familiar foe in England at Hamilton's Seddon Park in that first match, but Mott believes their 3-0 sweep of the Ashes ODIs will count for little.

"I'd rather go in having won these games, but it doesn't count for a lot in a World Cup, we've seen that before," he said.

"They'll set up their team differently – they left some players out these last couple of games and they'll have Nat Sciver back bowling and Katherine Brunt back bowling. 

"That attack, it's a very strong team, so we certainly won't underestimate them. 

"They've also got a little bit of time to reassess how they'll come at us."

Women's ODI World Cup 2022

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Amanda-Jade Wellington. Travelling reserves: Heather Graham, Georgia Redmayne

Australia's ODI World Cup 2022 fixtures

Mar 5: v England, Seddon Park, Hamilton, 12pm AEDT

Mar 8: v Pakistan, Bay Oval, Tauranga, 12pm AEDT

Mar 13: v New Zealand, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

Mar 15: v West Indies, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

Mar 19: v India, Eden Park, Auckland, 12pm AEDT

Mar 22: v South Africa, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

Mar 25: v Bangladesh, Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE

Semi-finals

Mar 30: Basin Reserve, Wellington, 8am AEDT

Mar 31: Hagley Park Christchurch, 12pm AEDT

Final

Apr 3: Hagley Park Christchurch, 11am AEDT

All matches broadcast exclusively in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports.