McGrath breaks free to set tone for summer

Tahlia McGrath has admitted she went into her shell at times during the Ashes, but the Australian vice-captain put any tendencies toward timidness behind her during Sunday’s ruthless display against West Indies.

McGrath and her Australian teammates are eager to make a statement across the three T20Is and three ODIs against their Caribbean rivals, after losing four of six white-ball games to England during the multi-format Ashes.

This new era for the world’s best team – a period of "re-evolving" according to captain Alyssa Healy – started with a romping win in Sunday’s first T20I, where Australia reeled in the West Indies’ 3-147 inside 14 overs.

For McGrath, who has barely put a foot wrong since returning to the Australian side in late 2021, the UK trip was a rare lean patch with the bat by her lofty standards.

After starting with 61 in the first innings of the sole Test at Nottingham and 40 in the first T20I, her next four innings produced scores of 4, 10, 24, 5 and 26.

On Sunday, she hammered eight fours and three sixes to finish unbeaten on 60 off 32 balls.

"I was stoked with that and it was a lot of fun," McGrath said following Australia’s eight-wicket win.

"The Ashes was pretty disappointing for me and I think I went away from my natural game a bit ... I was a little bit timid and oftentimes, there were too many thoughts going through my head and I just went away from what's worked for me so well for the last 12 to 18 months.

"We've had a lot of discussions as a group, we've had a nice block at home where I've been able to work on things, have some good training under my belt.

"I went out there today and backed myself and tried some things ... we bat so deep in this Australian line-up that you can afford to play like that and show off your skill.

"For me it was just coming out of there and playing with freedom."

McGrath only made her T20I debut in October 2021, but has since scored 729 runs at an average of 56 and strike rate of 142.94.

Those numbers leap even higher on home soil, where she has only been dismissed once in five innings and thus averages 265 while striking at 155.

"I love the pace on the wicket," she said.

"I'm quite a tall player so just to stand back and let my hands through the ball and you can trust the wicket so much here, so I suppose that might have something to do with it. Nothing beats playing at home."

McGrath’s efforts on Sunday were indicative of the aggression with which Australia have pledged to play as they look to stay ahead of their rivals.

She put on 85 runs in 6.4 overs with captain Healy – who hit her own 29-ball 56 – for the second wicket after the early loss of opener Beth Mooney.

But McGrath maintained there would remain a balance between aggression and intelligent batting going forward.

"We saw it was a nice wicket and we wanted to go out there, express ourselves and play freely," she said.

"We've spoken about it a lot as a group in in recent times, and it was nice to go out there today and just play with freedom.

"There were times where I was literally like, ‘right where am I going to hit a six?’ and I had to remind myself to calm down and still play good cricket shots.

"But we want to go out there, we want to play aggressively, we want to showcase our talent.

"We're looking to improve our game wherever we can and that's one (area), coming into the powerplay and really making the most of those two fielders out and just playing with freedom."

Australia and West Indies will have a little over 24 hours to recover before the second T20I is played at North Sydney Oval on Monday evening.

Top of the agenda for the hosts will be refining their plans to Hayley Matthews, after the West Indies skipper smacked an unbeaten 99 and no Australian bowler was spared her wrath.

"It was a class innings," McGrath said.

"She was chanceless, did it with ease and sort of played with us a bit in the field and we didn't have too many answers for it.

"(Matthews is one) that we're going to have to get our plans right for, for the rest of this series because she's an immensely talented player."

CommBank T20s v West Indies 2023

First T20: Australia won by eight wickets

Second T20: October 2, North Sydney Oval, 7.05pm AEDT

Third T20: October 5, Allan Border Field, 7.05pm AEDT

CommBank ODIs v West Indies 2023

First ODI: October 8, Allan Border Field, 10.35am AEDT

Second ODI: October 12, Junction Oval, 10.05am AEDT

First ODI: October 14, Junction Oval, 10.05am AEDT

Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20Is only), Jess Jonassen, Alana King (ODIs only), Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

West Indies squad: Hayley Matthews (c), Shemaine Campbelle (vc), Aaliyah Alleyne, Shamilia Connell, Afy Fletcher, Cherry Ann Fraser, Shabika Gajnabi, Jannillea Glasgow, Chinelle Henry, Zaida James, Djenaba Joseph, Ashmini Munisar, Karishma Ramharack, Stafanie Taylor, Rashada Williams