The heat is on: Aussies embrace World Cup like no other

28 Sep 2024 Laura Jolly, in Dubai

Australia's T20 World Cup campaign is underway as the defending champions confront searing heat and various oddities of the relocated tournament in Dubai

Australia have been given their first taste of the heat and humidity they will confront in their bid for a fourth consecutive T20 World Cup, as they begin to navigate the unique circumstances surrounding the recently relocated tournament.

After touching down in Dubai in the early hours of Thursday morning, the Australian squad enjoyed a light running session under lights at the ICC Academy on Friday evening with the temperature still hovering in the mid-30 degrees Celsius alongside 71 per cent humidity.

Ultimate guide to the 2024 women's T20 World Cup

The sticky evening air was a small taste of what was to come on Saturday afternoon, and a full training session in bright sunlight at 40 degrees was a sterner test of the heat acclimation protocols the players undertook prior to their departure from Brisbane.

"You know that it's obviously going to be very hot and humid, but I think until you actually get in it and start exercising in it that you realise how zapping it can be and how intense it really is," Kim Garth told cricket.com.au on Saturday morning.

"We had a pretty light session (on Friday night) but even still it was very draining and just very intense.

"I think it's going to be tough (but) we're lucky with the schedule that we only have one day game, so that'll hopefully work in our favour – although in three other (night) games we'll obviously still have to battle with the humidity.

"We did all the heat acclimation preparation stuff Queensland, saunas every day, so I think the girls will be fine, but it takes a bit of getting used to."

Australia assemble at the ICC Academy // Getty

The set up of the tournament is markedly different to what had originally been planned for Bangladesh, where the two groups would have been split between the cities of Dhaka and Sylhet.

Here, all 10 teams are not only staying in Dubai – given the close proximity of the tournament’s second venue in Sharjah – they are also being housed in the one hotel.

It makes for a veritable who’s who of global superstars queuing behind one another at the omelet station each morning at the breakfast buffet, and access to the hotel's two gyms involves a carefully managed schedule.

It also means multiple teams are training alongside one another at the same time at the ICC Academy, another anomaly from a typical tournament or bilateral series.

Australia warm-up alongside the West Indies squad on Friday evening // cricket.com.au

"At the last World Cup, we shared hotels with a couple of teams, but certainly not all 10 and I think that'll probably be a bit of a challenge in itself, in that it's hard to escape the cricket side of things," Garth said.

"The day after a game, you’re going down to breakfast and seeing the teams that you've just played, or the teams that you're about to play and there's just cricket people everywhere you turn.

"But having said that, we have a floor to ourselves which I think is cool.

"It's our own little hub in a way and we're just really enjoying each other's company.

"It'll be fine, but it's certainly different to World Cups that I've been part of in the past."

Australia’s full net session on Saturday was their first and only look at the conditions ahead of Sunday’s evening warm-up match against England, to be played on one of the ICC Academy ovals.

England have been in the UAE since September 13, after opting to send a second-string team to their white-ball tour of Ireland earlier this month. In a fortunate turn of events, they had already arranged their 11-day training camp in Abu Dhabi long before the tournament was moved to the UAE from Bangladesh.

A second practice game will follow for Alyssa Healy’s team against West Indies on Tuesday, then all focus will shift to their opening match of the tournament against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on October 5.

All laughs as Australia's first session got underway in Dubai // cricket.com.au

Speaking in Dubai on Saturday, allrounder Sophie Molineux said Australia had reviewed areas for improvement from their 3-0 T20I home series win over New Zealand ahead of the England warm-up.

"We did pick up a lot in that series against the Kiwis, and it was a really good series," Molineux said.

"The games, although we got across the line in all of them, they were pretty close at times so we took a lot of learnings out of that and I'm sure that'll come through tomorrow in the practice match.

"But in terms of roles and everything, I'm sure that they won't look too dissimilar.

"Looking at the way that England played in the last two or three years, they're really aggressive, so I don't think it'll be too dissimilar tomorrow and it'll be a really good hit out."

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

The heat is on: Aussies embrace World Cup like no other

2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Warm-up matches

Australia's Group A fixtures

Finals