World Cup in focus as stars guide Aus A to series whitewash

Tayla Vlaeminck has been handed more than her fair share of lessons in patience in recent years, and the Australia quick hopes her sacrifices will soon pay off in the form of a T20 World Cup berth.

Vlaeminck produced an ominous display with the ball as Australia A romped to a seven-wicket win in Sunday’s third and final T20 against India A, bowling with impressive pace and dismissing opener Shubha Satheesh with a hooping in-swinger with her second ball of the match before finishing with figures of 1-6 from her four overs.

It took a plucky 20-ball 38 from Kiran Navgire to help India A to 8-120, but it proved nowhere near enough as Tahlia McGrath’s 22-ball 51no steered Australia A to victory with 37 balls to spare.

It was Vlaeminck’s second appearance for the series after she blew out the cobwebs with 0-34 from four overs in the series opener, before she was rested for the second game.

"I feel like I've had a really good pre-season this year, and I've been lucky just to be up in Brisbane for what it feels like probably three months now," Vlaeminck said following Sunday’s game.

"I've been on turf all winter, and had a pretty uninterrupted preseason as well.

"So I feel like I'm in a good space, and then hopefully I can just, touch wood, keep that going and get into the New Zealand series and hopefully on to a World Cup."

Vlaeminck has not played a World Cup match for Australia since 2018, having been ruled out on the eve of the home T20 tournament in 2020 due to a serious foot injury – the same ailment that also cost her the chance to play in the 2022 ODI World Cup, 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 T20 World Cup.

The 2024 edition is rapidly approaching, and Vlaeminck – who made a long-awaited return to international cricket against Bangladesh in March – revealed she had opted against nominating for The Hundred in favour of spending the majority of the winter training at the National Cricket Centre in Brisbane.

"The last couple years that’s probably been the goal, to play a World Cup," the Victorian quick said.

"I’m trying not to think about it too much, but it’s hard not to think about it.

"That was the reasoning behind not wanting to go to The Hundred, feeling like I could control a lot more of what I was doing if I was around here in a familiar environment with familiar staff.

"It’s leading to hopefully getting on to a World Cup, touch wood, but at the moment, it seems to be going really well."

Vlaeminck and national teammate McGrath have both been named in the 50-over Australia A squad that will play three one-dayers in Mackay this week.

But while McGrath, whose unbeaten fifty on Sunday followed her 47 not out two days earlier, will captain the ‘A’ side as her World Cup preparations continue to ramp up, Vlaeminck said she was aware her contribution would be more limited.

The 25-year-old’s workloads are being carefully managed ahead of next month’s T20I series against New Zealand that will serve as World Cup warm-ups, and she will only play 1-2 of the three one-dayers against India A.

"It's one of those ones where at the time I hate it ... but in the long run, I know it's good for me," Vlaeminck said of missing matches.

"Obviously, I'd love to be out there playing all the time, and hopefully in a year or two's time I will be.

"For me to be able to do what I can do out there, run in and try and bowl as fast as I can, it's one of those ones where I just can't play all the time at the moment.

"I'm slowly starting to wrap my head around it, but I hate running drinks."

Australia A will hope to continue their dominance over India A in Mackay after sweeping the T20s 3-0.

Opener Tahlia Wilson emerged as the star of the T20 series, with scores of 50, 53noand 39 across the three matches at Allan Border Field.

She again handed Australia A a strong start to their chase of India’s 8-120 on Sunday, hitting 39 from 26 deliveries before McGrath polished off the win.

Leg-spinner Grace Parsons was also a standout with the ball for a second consecutive game, taking 2-18 from her four-over spell.

"I think we made it pretty clear at the start when we first came here as a group that we really wanted to put on a display, and put (India A) to the sword in the first game," Vlaeminck said.

"I feel like we did that really well and then we just continued the momentum throughout.

"Tahlia Wilson's been unreal at the top of the order for us the whole time and T-Mac's been really good in the last couple of games as well."

Women’s Australia A v India A Series

First T20: Australia won by five runs

Second T20: Australia won by eight wickets

Third T20: Australia won by seven wickets

Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum (wk), Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Nicola Hancock, Charli Knott (vc), Katie Mack, Tahlia McGrath (c), Grace Parsons, Kate Peterson, Tayla Vlaeminck, Tahlia Wilson

First ODI: August 14, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 9.30am

Second ODI: August 16, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 1.20pm (D/N)

Third ODI: August 18, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 1.20pm (D/N)

Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke, Sophie Day, Nicole Faltum (wk), Tess Flintoff, Kim Garth, Nicola Hancock, Charli Knott (vc), Katie Mack, Tahlia McGrath (c), Grace Parsons, Kate Peterson, Tayla Vlaeminck, Tahlia Wilson

Four-day match: August 22-25, Gold Coast District Cricket Club, 9.30am

Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Maddy Darke (wk), Sophie Day, Emma de Broughe, Nicole Faltum (vc), Tess Flintoff, Charli Knott (c), Katie Mack, Lilly Mills, Grace Parsons, Kate Peterson, Courtney Sippel, Georgia Voll

India A squad: Minnu Mani (c), Shweta Sehrawat (vc), Priya Punia, Shubha Satheesh, Tejal Hasabnis, Kiran Navgire, Sajana Sajeevan, Uma Chetry (wk), Shipra Giri (wk), Raghavi Bisht, Saika Ishaque, Mannat Kashyap, Tanuja Kanwar, Priya Mishra, Meghna Singh, Sayali Satghare, Shabnam Shakeel (subject to fitness), S Yashasri. Standby: Saima Thakor