Christmas in India for the Australian cricket team might have lost some of its sweetness after the big loss to the host in the one-off Test. However, if there’s one thing (among the many) the Aussies do well, it is to compartmentalise. Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association put together a lunch for the team outside their hotel and assistant coach Dan Marsh procured a few Christmas-themed costumes for the side. Photographs emerged of a team spending time together, finding comfort in each other’s company. Darcie Brown, dressed as Grinch, was an instant hit.
“For Christmas, we had a great team coffee in the morning and shared some presents and some laughs,” Beth Mooney revealed on Thursday.
She also got a text from a certain Meg Lanning, wishing her for the holidays and checking in on her and the team. But that’s how far the conversation went.
“Meg sent me a message for Christmas and I think she’s enjoying some down time. It was nice to hear from her. I obviously miss having her around the group. But she’s done her time and I think she’s pretty happy with where she’s left things for this group,” Mooney said.
Clean slate
Think of those LED writing pads, where you click a button and the surface is wiped clean. The Aussies were going for a similar reset.
“The last few days have been good to switch off and get away from cricket but we’re geared up towards training and the ODIs,” she added.
Test cricket for the women’s game remains largely without context courtesy the lack of a carrot at the end of the stick. There is no championship or end goal, in fact this game didn’t even have the multiformat points such a series would usually have. So it was in the best interest of the team to find a way to switch gears into ODI mode, a format they have a World Cup coming up in soon.
This big picture isn’t lost on the Aussies. The T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2024 and the ODI World Cup in India in 2025 comes with two major challenges - playing on spin-friendly tracks is one of them. Thirteen Aussie wickets in the Test fell to spin in the Test at the Wankhede Stadium.
“We’ve got a different looking side compared to a couple of years ago. We want to take as much out of this series and from our Bangladesh tour in April, and really learn as much as we can about the conditions,” Mooney admitted.
“We’ve taken a little bit of insight from the Australian men’s team that was here recently for the ODI World Cup, which has been really helpful. For us, it’s just about adapting as quickly as we can. The death bowling and batting are going to be really important and we’ll have to make sure we nail them. Hopefully, we can fine-tune a few things in this series and in the next six months before the T20 World Cup and the ODI one the following year,” she added.
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Think tank settling in
The second challenge facing Australia is the freshness of its command centre. The Matthew Mott-Meg Lanning era saw immense success come this side’s way. Lanning herself was responsible for five ICC trophies as captain across the two white ball formats. These are not easy shoes to fill for Alyssa Healy, whose first assignment as full-time skipper was the Test in Mumbai.
Against India, a few bowling choices by the leadership group – Healy and her vice captain Tahlia McGrath – were debatable. Giving Ashleigh Gardner 41 overs when the likes of Alana King and Jess Jonassen were there was one of them. Jonassen bowled just 20 overs in the entire game.
Healy was a busy body during practice on the eve of the first ODI. She spent long hours batting, facing multiple members of the Aussie squad after which she picked up her keeping gloves for a session. Towards the end, she sat down on the chairs by the nets, seemingly lost in thought, perhaps feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders as she tries to work on her captaincy resume as well.
“I think we’re all taking it one series at a time,” Mooney explained at the pre-match press conference before the team headed out to train. “Midge (Healy) has done an outstanding job in the interim role and taken over the full-time captaincy really impressively. She’ll learn as she goes as we all will. It’s important that between now and next year and the year after, we all help each other out as much as possible. This team has a lot of leadership personalities in there and a lot of senior players. It’s all about helping each other and taking some of the pressure off her. And we’re doing it with Midge as she’s learning the ropes of the role,” she added.
Australia women’s team during the practise session. | Photo Credit: EMMANUAL YOGINI/ The Hindu
A tough ask and opponent
While conditions posed a challenge to the Aussies during the one-off Test, the bunch should find themselves better acclimatised by now. Beyond their internal challenges lies a threatening opponent who finds itself on an upswing of momentum and results.
“India are a huge threat in white-ball cricket, they’ve had a lot of success over the last couple of years and have some world class players in their lineup. That’s a great challenge for this Australia team, to come out firing and hopefully nullify that as early as possible,” Mooney said.
Despite scanty attendance for the games, a memorable part of the Test, even for the Aussies, was fans who had turned up chanting in support of the Indians. Even the Australians got a few songs dedicated to them during the course of the Test and also met some of these supporters on the final day of the Test.
“We obviously know that they’re going to play on the crowd a little bit as well, and we get right up and about when there’s a decent crowd too. So, looking forward to the contest and hopefully we can keep them quiet as early as possible. I think that will be a really big factor in the series as a whole,” she added.
With a whiteboard populated with things to get right, Australia has its task cut out as it heads into the white ball leg of the tour. With an eye on the continental events, interesting times lie ahead for a champion side seeking to find success in transition.
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