ODIs against India a good opportunity in adjusting to conditions, says Georgia Wareham

New Delhi, Sep 13 (IANS) As Australia gear up to play a three-match series against India, also serving as vital preparation for the Women’s ODI World Cup, on Sunday, leg-spinner Georgia Wareham said the contests against the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side are a timely chance for the visitors to get accustomed to subcontinental conditions that are difficult to replicate back home.

Georgia had been ruled out of the remainder of The Hundred due to a groin injury, but was able to recover in time and be selected for the ODIs against India and the World Cup, set to start on September 30. She will be expected to shoulder spin-bowling duties with fellow leg-spinner Alana King and off-spin bowling all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner.

“It's been a little bit different given I was in England for the Hundred and then sort of came home early. But I mean, it's really hard. We can't really replicate a lot of the conditions that we're going to get over there in Australia. So I think just getting as much games as we can and trying to keep ourselves as fresh as we can for what's going to be a pretty long stint as ODI World Cups are.”

“So that's going to be really important for us as a group in just staying really fresh and doing what we can from that sense. But it is really about adapting to the conditions once we get on the field. We've got some good opportunities in the ODI series before-hand and then in warm-up games to sort of do our best at adjusting and getting used to the conditions as much as we can,” said Georgia to IANS in a virtual interaction.

Australia are aiming to become the first team since 1988 to bag consecutive Women's ODI World Cups. The side last featured together in an international series during their T20I tour of New Zealand in March, while their previous ODI assignment came in the multi-format Ashes in January.

“It's going to be really important. I guess sort of getting engaged on, like I sort of said before, getting to know conditions a little bit and getting used to it over here. I guess for the players as well - that's going to be massive for us and leading into the World Cup to sort of get a taste of one-day cricket.”

“We haven't sort of played that for a while coming off an off-season and going straight into that. So I think it's going to be really important for us as a group to get going and hopefully hit our straps in just the perfect time to go into the World Cup,” added Georgia.

Reflecting on last year’s T20 World Cup semi-final loss to South Africa, Georgia stated the team had taken lessons from that setback in Dubai, but also stressed that they are approaching the ODI World Cup with a fresh mindset.

“Initially after that T20 World Cup, we spoke as a group of what we thought we needed to change and where we needed to go as a group. But I think it's a little bit different going into a different format given that the girls won the last one-day World Cup as well. So I think a lot of time passes between one day World Cups. A lot of teams look quite different, which sort of ends up being back at square one anyway.”

“So while that T20 World Cup was disappointing, I think going in really fresh and sort of having that sort of perspective on it is going to be the key for us and not looking too far ahead, is going to be the most important thing,” she said.

Georgia further shed light on the fitness adjustments Australia’s players have made to handle the transition from the fast-paced The Hundred to a long set of 50-over games coming their way for the next seven-eight weeks.

“Our S&C, Jordan Stares, programmed our training during The Hundred - for those of us playing there - to keep our loads at a one-day cricket level, even through the off-season and pre-season. He’s done a really good job managing that amidst a mountain of other work.”

“All the players have done a really awesome job to make sure that we're ready to go straight into one-day cricket. It's pretty hard to sort of replicate that when you're over in England playing 100 balls, which goes really quickly. But all of our players have sort of experienced the change of formats pretty quickly previously.”

“So everyone's got a pretty good idea of what they need and how to get through such a long period of cricket in the subcontinent and sort of getting used to that. We've had sort of a sauna protocol leading up, as it's going to be quite warm over there for us coming off our winter into some hot Indian conditions. So we've done a mountain of work and what's really exciting is the group is raring to go,” she concluded.

--IANS

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