Australia women eye ICC Championship points with WC prep in Bangladesh
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Australia's extensive summer of cricket will conclude in Dhaka, but the focus has already shifted to the upcoming T20 World Cup. Shelley Nitschke, the coach of Australia, faces the challenge of managing fatigue and acclimating players to the conditions in Bangladesh during her team’s historic tour.
All 14 players in Australia's squad have now arrived in Dhaka ahead of the first ODI on Thursday.
The cohort participating in the Women’s Premier League in India joined their teammates after those who flew in on Saturday. This six-game white-ball tour caps off a long and busy summer for the Australians, which commenced against West Indies in September and featured multi-format series against India and South Africa.
Despite the demanding schedule, this tour holds significant importance. The three ODIs offer opportunities to secure ICC Women’s Championship points.
Moreover, with the T20 World Cup slated for Bangladesh in September and October, this tour provides crucial preparation.
Speaking to the media from Dhaka on Tuesday, Nitschke acknowledged the delicate task of managing player workload while maximizing exposure to the Bangladeshi environment.
"It's a little bit twofold, the three ODIs are worth ICC Championship points so they are important to us well, but just to have the opportunity to play the T20s in the conditions that we'll be playing the World Cup, I think it's a really important series all around," Nitschke said to Cricket.com.au
"There's an element of both every time we get on the field, we want to pick our best XI and win games of cricket but also finding the times to (players) exposure to these conditions and really use this series as well as we can to prepare us for when we come back here in September (is important). So I think that it's just striking that right balance."
Notably, this marks the first bilateral series tour by an Australian women’s squad to Bangladesh. Their last visit was during the 2014 T20 World Cup, an event only three current squad members participated in.