Phoebe Litchfield is expected to be fit for Australia’s first match in the T20 World Cup against the 21-year-old who arrived in the UAE in fine shape and, if healthy, will almost certainly return to the middle order. Grace Harris, who missed last month’s T20s against New Zealand and practice matches owing to a calf strain, trained and might be considered.
Australia has never played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium and did not have the opportunity to train there before Saturday’s match.
Chief selector Shawn Flegler kept a tight check on the venue’s opening day double-header on Thursday, skipping Australia’s net session to favour travelling to watch Bangladesh v Scotland and Sri Lanka v Pakistan to gather as much information as possible.
Sri Lanka, although the uncertainty surrounding the Sharjah pitch means there are still significant decisions to be taken at the selection table.
Litchfield missed both warm-up matches due to groin pain, but she trained with her teammates on Thursday afternoon and is expected to be available for selection. “There are some games there (on Thursday) that we can watch and get a sense of the conditions and talk about,” Nitschke said.
“Shawn Flegler there today to watch both the games, so he’s going to have some intel for us, and obviously we’ll have vision of those matches.” Sharjah is known for its low and slow pace, and none of the four teams playing on Thursday had an easy time batting.
With that in mind, Australia may be tempted to change the balance of their bowling attack against New Zealand, replacing a pace bowler with leggie Alana King as a fourth spinner. There’s still the matter of whether a fit Harris can return to the XI. If she did return, she would also provide a spin option for the ball.
“Things are starting to take shape now, we’ve had a few little niggles, like Pheebs missing the practice games,” Nitschke informed the crowd.
“It’s an intense competition for slots, and we have some outstanding players in our 15-man team, so there will be some difficult decisions to make. Nitschke stated that communication, both on the field and amongst batters, would be critical against Sri Lanka due to the ability to adapt quickly to an unfamiliar setting.
“We’ve talked a lot about communication and made sure to practice it during the practice games. “We know that the round games will be extremely important for us, and I believe that the team that adapts quickly and understands the conditions will be in a very good position.”