Time for experimenting over as Aussies set sights on NZ, Cup

Alyssa Healy will not be dropping herself back down to No.10 any time soon, declaring the time for experimentation is over as Australia seek consistency and momentum heading into next month’s T20 World Cup.

Australia’s preparations for the ICC event in the United Arab Emirates have ramped up in Mackay this week with a three-game T20I series against New Zealand beginning at the Great Barrier Reef Arena on Thursday.

It’s their first series since their tour of Bangladesh in March. That white-ball series – played in the nation that, at the time, had been set to host the World Cup before political unrest force a late change – was seen as a chance to experiment, and prepare for worst-case scenarios with injury or illness.

In one game, Phoebe Litchfield and Grace Harris opened the batting while Aussie skipper Healy listed herself and regular opening partner Beth Mooney at No.9 and 10.

Bowlers were deployed in different roles throughout the series and leg-spinner Georgia Wareham even hit a fifty batting at first drop.

But it is now full steam ahead for the defending champions, with Healy declaring Australia would field their strongest possible XI in each of their three games against the White Ferns.

"Preparing for the World Cup is obviously key … (but) I'm looking forward to just taking these three games as they are," Healy told reporters in Mackay on Wednesday.

"We're going to get very different conditions here to what we're going to get in Dubai so it's just about us playing our best XI at every opportunity and putting some things in place, knowing that we do have a World Cup at the back of our minds.

"I think when you look at our side as a whole, we've been pretty settled in the T20 game for a long period of time.

"I don't think I'll be batting at 10 again, sadly. Bangladesh was a good opportunity for us to try a few things just in case, 'what if?' scenarios if some of our key players go down, who can fill those roles.

"But I think for us now, having some consistency around our XI leading into a World Cup (is important).

"You still use all 15 players I find in a World Cup to win it, but everyone knows their roles, and who will come in place of one another."

Healy confirmed Australia were close to confirming their XI for Thursday’s series opener but kept her cards close to her chest.

There are likely to be some changes from their most recent T20I XI that played in Bangladesh in March, given the different conditions on offer in Mackay and Australia’s more experimental approach to that series in Dhaka.

The make-up of the bowling attack will pose the biggest questions, with the return of Darcie Brown, who missed that Bangladesh tour with a foot injury, giving Australia the choice of two express quicks – or even the temptation to play both in the same XI.

It is also unlikely Australia will go as spin heavy as they did in Dhaka.

"We're pretty much there," Healy said of Australia’s XI.

"We've had a little bit of a rough winter with a few niggles floating around and managing some people coming back from injury, but we're still looking to pick our best XI in every fixture that we have available at the time."

CommBank T20I Series v New Zealand   

First T20: September19, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 7.10pm

Second T20: September 22, Great Barrier Reef Arena, Mackay, 7.10pm

Third T20: September 24, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 7.10pm