Australia coach Shelley Nitschke has pushed back on suggestions Sunday’s loss to India was a ‘false start’ to their new era in the shortest format, adamant there is plenty of time to refine plans for the mid-year women’s T20 World Cup.
Playing their first T20I in almost 12 months, Australia made several key changes to their batting line-up for the opening T20I against India, who were full of confidence coming off a 5-0 T20I series sweep against Sri Lanka in December.
Australia were then bowled out for 133 in 18 overs.
Vice-captain Tahlia McGrath and hard-hitting finisher Grace Harris were left on the sidelines, alongside experienced quick Megan Schutt, while seam-bowling allrounder Nicola Carey came into the XI for the first time in more than three years.
The top four remained consistent, with Beth Mooney and Georgia Voll followed by Phoebe Litchfield and Ellyse Perry, but Georgia Wareham was shuffled up to No.6, with Annabel Sutherland, fresh off winning her second Belinda Clark Award, dropping down to No.8.
Australia’s aggressive mindset was clear from the outset, with the run rate hovering above 8.5 for the majority of their innings, but their top contribution was Wareham’s 19-ball 30.
The 21-run (DLS) loss has left Australia 0-1 down in a home white-ball bilateral series for the first time since January 2016, with two T20Is to come followed by the ODI and Test legs of the multi-format series.
“I don’t think it was a false start – we obviously didn’t play our best cricket today (and) certainly we would like to post a few more runs than that,” Nitschke said after the match.
“That can happen in T20 cricket, and we just weren’t quite on top of our game today.”
Nitschke said Wareham had been rewarded for her strong Big Bash with the bat, where she hit 277 runs at 39.57 at strike rate of 147.34 for the Renegades, with promotion up the batting order, while Sutherland, who was listed on the team sheet at No.7, was pushed down further in favour of Carey as a tactical choice to keep a left-right combination in the middle.
“We felt like that was a good strategy for us,” Nitschke said.
“Georgia Wareham’s actually been playing really well.
“She had a great WBBL, she had a really good WPL, so we feel like she’s in some really good form.
“So getting her into the game, and I thought she batted really well tonight, was part of it.
“(We’re) playing our players that are in form at the moment, and we’re just blessed with some depth.”
Australia have just five official T20Is left to play ahead of the T20 World Cup in the United Kingdom in June but will also play three warm-up games against South Africa following their arrival in England, alongside two official tournament practice matches.
With that in mind, Nitschke said she was confident Australia still had plenty of time to refine their plans and strongest XI, and the immediate priority was beating India, rather than on experimentation.
“There’s some real friendly or good competition for spots, I think, which is excellent considering what we’ve got coming up,” she said.
“I think, first and foremost, winning this series is important to us, but I think that will also feed into what the World Cup looks like as well.
“We’ve got a bit of time up our sleeve for that (experimentation), we’ll be wanting to win these next two games.
“And I still feel like we’ve got a little bit of time, especially given our lead-in to England with those five warm-up games as well to get a few things right.
“So we’re here to win this series and put the team out that we think can do that.”
India, meanwhile, will only grow in confidence after drawing first blood in the multi-format series.
Pace bowler Arundhati Reddy, who picked up a career-best 4-22, said India had anticipated Australia’s ultra-aggressive approach with the bat.
She also pointed to their recent success at the ODI World Cup, there they lifted their first trophy after beating Australia in the semi-final, as driving their confidence as they eye their first all-format series in Down Under.
“We were expecting that,” Reddy said.
“We knew that they’d come hard at us. We had done a lot of planning coming into this game.
“From our team’s point of view, we focus a lot more on what we want to do, rather than what they want to do.
“It’s great that we have won the first T20, but again, for us as a team, we want to win the series in all the formats.
“I think the Indian team has been playing really good cricket in the last few years.
“We’ve always come very close and not won, but I think there’s a belief in the team now that we can beat anybody in this world and that’s the confidence that helps us, and we want to continue that.”
NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series
India lead the multi-format series 2-0
Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Uma Chetry, Arundhati Reddy, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Bharti Fulmali, Shreyanka Patil
February 15: India won by 21 runs (DLS)
February 19: Second T20, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT
February 21: Third T20, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT
Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol
February 24: First ODI, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT
February 27: Second ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
March 1: Third ODI, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT
Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham
India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare
March 6-9: Test match, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)
