There’s an inescapable fact that Meg Lanning’s absence would turn into telling for Australia, and because the girls’s Ashes turned on its head final weekend, that turned clear.
Lanning was a last-minute withdrawal from the multi-format collection for undisclosed medical causes, having additionally spent six months out of the sport in 2022 for a psychological well being break.
During that point the Australians adjusted to life with out their talismanic captain, the winningest captain in ICC tournaments ever, and made up for the glut of runs Lanning has lengthy offered.
An opening Test victory for the Aussies in England, underneath the management of Alyssa Healy, was a constructive signal, adopted by a gap win within the T20 collection to present Australia a 6-0 factors lead.
But back-to-back T20 losses have whittled that lead away, and the rating is now 6-4 heading into the ultimate three ODIs, with Australia needing only one extra victory to retain the Ashes.
Australia coach Shelley Nitschke admitted her workforce was lacking Lanning however was assured that they had the gamers to wrestle again the momentum the house workforce gained with their T20 wins.
“She’s one of the best players in the world and she’s been in our cycle a long time, so we were definitely going to miss her,” Nitschke mentioned of Lanning, who averages 53 in ODIs and has the second-most worldwide T20 runs in girls’s cricket historical past.
“Any team that has had Meg Lanning in their side will miss her when she’s not there.
“She’s always made a lot of runs over here, so we’ve certainly missed her, but I still think we have the team and good depth to cover.”
The Australians went with the identical, unchanged aspect by way of the T20s and Nitschke hinted that might change for the 50-over video games, a format during which the World Cup winners have gained 15-straight video games.
“Potentially, yeah. That’s something we’ll look at over the next couple of days,” Nitschke mentioned forward of Wednesday’s opening ODI in Bristol.
“I still felt like we still haven‘t played our best cricket. It’s a tight turnaround now to the ODIs, but we’re still staying alive in the Ashes series, which is what we’ve come here to win.
“We’ve just got to have a look at our game and make sure when we start the ODI series that we’re correcting some of those errors that we’re making and that we’re really sharp.
“They’re playing good cricket, so we certainly know that we have to play really good cricket as well. We certainly know that it’s not going to be an easy task for us.
“They might have the momentum but that can change pretty quickly. We’re confident that we can swing the momentum back our way.”
The ultimate three ODIs shall be performed at Bristol, Taunton and Southampton.
Source: www.news.com.au
