Reunited spin twins set sights on trans-Tasman series sweep

Australia's leg-spin twins will have one more opportunity to join forces in Wednesday's final trans-Tasman T20I in Wellington, as they look to lead the tourists to a clean sweep over the reigning world champions.

Alana King made a seamless return to the T20I XI in Sunday’s second match in Mount Maunganui, picking up three wickets as she replaced the injured Ashleigh Gardner.

She re-joined fellow leggie Georgia Wareham, who has had the upper hand over the White Ferns’ batters across the two matches date, with her economy rate of 6.64 only bettered by quicks Darcie Brown and Annabel Sutherland.

Those performances followed a strong run for Wareham in the Women’s Premier League in India, where she was Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s leading wicket taker.

"Just getting opportunity (to bowl) in the middle phases has been really good, and bowling alongside Kingy the other day was really cool as well, having another leggie out there," Wareham said in Wellington on Tuesday.

"I think having a bit of confidence with the ball (has helped me), having a few decent games in the back end in India leading into this series was handy.

"Ash missing out is unfortunate but having players who can just come in and make their impact straight away has been really cool."

Australia will make at least one change to the XI that thrashed New Zealand by 82 runs at Bay Oval, after Brown returned home on Monday for family reasons.

Megan Schutt is likely to return to the XI in place of her fellow South Australian after sitting out the second T20I, while Australia could either retain Kim Garth, whose three overs went for 0-40 on Sunday, or hand a debut to off-spin bowling allrounder Charli Knott.

The conditions at Sky Stadium also present a new challenge to Australia, whose only previous match at the venue was a T20I in 2010, with Ellyse Perry and coach Shelley Nitschke the only members of the current touring party who featured in that game.

"(Sealing a clean sweep) would be ideal for us, but I think we're just more focused on the style of play that we're putting out there," Wareham said.

"Just playing some really aggressive cricket and with good intent and just continuing the form that we've got going on at the moment.

"We're striving to get the highest totals we possibly can ... also fielding has been more of a focus for us this entire series, and trying to be as clean as we can and hopefully get a few run outs in there, we've missed a couple of this series so far."

An extended break beckons for Australia following Wednesday’s game, with their next series scheduled for September.

But already minds are turning to their major assignment for the second half of 2025: defending the ODI World Cup title in India in October.

There, the skills of Wareham, King and Gardner will play a crucial role in Australia’s chances of success.

Often, Wareham is preferred in T20Is and King in one-dayers, but the likely spin-friendly conditions will open the door for the slower bowlers to take centre stage – and provide the two leg-spinners with more opportunities to feature in the same XI.

Left-armer Sophie Molineux, missing from this tour after undergoing knee surgery in January, is also expected to have recovered ahead of the World Cup, while Knott could also come into consideration. Australia’s most successful white-ball spinner, Jess Jonassen, also remains available for selection having last played international cricket in late 2023.

"I think that is really exciting," Wareham said of the upcoming ICC tournament.

"It probably puts a little bit more pressure on spinners, anytime you're in subcontinent conditions, but I know we're all going to be challenging each other and pushing for selection in that that squad." 

CommBank T20I tour of New Zealand

Australia T20 squad: Tahlia McGrath (c), Nicole Faltum, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Charli Knott, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

New Zealand T20 squad: Suzie Bates (c), Eden Carson, Sophie Devine, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Polly Inglis, Bella James, Fran Jonas, Jess Kerr, Melie Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Georgia Plimmer, Lea Tahuhu

First T20 | Australia won by eight wickets

Second T20 | Australia won by 82 runs

Third T20 | March 26: Sky Stadium, Wellington

All games start at 12.45pm AEDT, 2.45pm NZDT and will be broadcast live on Foxtel and Kayo Sports