Australia ‘slightly bit rattled’ by Lanning’s sudden Ashes withdrawal
The squad gathered in Brisbane on June 29 for a coaching camp forward of their departure to England however will journey with out their skipper Lanning, who has withdrawn from the sequence to stay at house to handle an undisclosed medical problem.
Nitschke couldn’t shed any mild on what Lanning was coping with however admitted her sudden absence from the tour had rocked the squad as they gathered collectively for the primary time for the reason that Lanning announcement was made on Saturday.
“I’m sure they were a little bit rattled by the news,” Nitschke stated. “But I think Meg is in our thoughts. We also know that she wants us to go over there and get the job done.
“We’ve had a while to kind of get our head round it now and having the ladies up right here this week, it is very nice to get them collectively.”
“The indisputable fact that she [Healy] captained the group in India final yr and did a unbelievable job, the ladies received round her, performed some actually good cricket, so I feel she ought to take lots of confidence out of that and I feel she loved it.”
Australia ladies’s coach Shelley Nitschke
Australia has handled Lanning’s absence beforehand throughout the profitable T20I tour of India late final yr when Lanning took a break from the game with Alyssa Healy standing in as captain. Tahlia McGrath batted at No.3 and was vice-captain in that series, leading the team in the final T20I when Healy injured her calf during the fourth game.
Nitschke believes that Healy and the group would be able to handle Lanning’s absence again.
“[Healy] had an enormous couple of days herself, to search out out that she’s captaining for an Ashes sequence,” Nitschke said. “But I feel the truth that she captained the group in India final yr and did a unbelievable job, the ladies received round her, performed some actually good cricket, so I feel she ought to take lots of confidence out of that and I feel she loved it.
“I think we’ve got some really good leaders in the group. We’ve got a lot of experience in the group. I think one thing that we’ve been really good at over the years is just being able to adapt and take some knocks as they come. I’ve got the utmost confidence in our group to head across and hopefully get the job done.”
But the void Lanning leaves in Australia’s high order may not be as simply lined within the Test match, given there are already holes to fill. Lanning and Healy have occupied a spot within the high three in two of the final three ladies’s Tests Australia have performed relationship again to the 2019 Ashes. Healy opened in all three video games whereas the just lately retired Rachael Haynes opened in Australia’s final two Tests. Lanning batted at No.5 within the last women’s Ashes Test in early 2022 in Canberra and made 93 within the first innings, her highest Test rating.
“It’s a lot on her plate,” Nitschke stated. “I think it’s a definite conversation that we’ll be having pretty soon to see how that might look for her in the batting order.”
Australia did pair Beth Mooney and Phoebe Litchfield along with nice success within the ODI sequence in opposition to Pakistan earlier this yr when Healy was injured. Mooney has opened in three of her seven Test innings and batted at No.3 within the final Test in opposition to England in 2022 and appears set to switch Haynes, whereas Litchfield made 78 not out and 67 not out in her first two ODIs opening the batting and is nicely and actually within the body to make her Test debut in Nottingham.
“Phoebe is so talented and has been on the radar and in that talent ID process for a little while, so she’s certainly got the attributes,” Nitschke stated. “I think when we get over there in the English conditions, we’ve been training here with red balls and we had some overcast conditions in the first camp, but it’s just different again over there.
“So I feel there’s slightly bit to play out earlier than we kind of work out who our greatest XI is for that Test match to kick off the Ashes. But Phoebs is actually placing her hand up. We’ve received a two-day sport this week and received a three-day sport over there so there is a bit to play out. I feel she’s positively received the attributes as have fairly a couple of gamers. We’ll see the place it lands.”