Belfast: With women’s T20 cricket set to make its debut in the upcoming 2022 Commonwealth Games at Birmingham, Australia’s left-arm spinner Jess Jonassen feels that the multi-nation event is going to be a completely unique experience.
Australia enter the competition as 20-over and 50-over World Cup winners and are tipped to clinch the gold medal. The women’s team, led by Meg Lanning, are placed in Group A alongside India, Pakistan and Barbados. They will kick off the competition against India on July 29 at Edgbaston Cricket Ground.
“It’s going to be something completely unique. But I think the fact that we’ve been to World Cups and been right through to the business end of those will hopefully in terms of every game being almost a knockout. You’ve got so few games, but then to try and make sure you’re in those metal matches is probably the ultimate goal,” Jess was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
Jess felt that adapting quickly to the conditions at Edgbaston will be the key for Australia to have a chance of winning the gold medal. “Obviously, you want to win gold, but there’s still a lot of cricket to go before you get there. I think it’s going to be completely different and it’s something that we haven’t experienced before. But for us, our team is really good at adapting and we’re making sure that’s the way we approach this campaign. It’s really exciting times.”
Australia will reach Belfast by bus, leaving Bready after their tri-series match against Pakistan was washed off due to rain and fly to Birmingham, where they will be housed alongside the men’s beach volleyball team in the Games Village. They will use Monday and Tuesday to adjust to the Games environment before kick starting their training on Wednesday.
“I think once we’re in the village, we’ll be like little school girls. We’ll be pretty excited for a little while, then it’ll be down to business and getting back to what we’re used to doing, training and playing.”
“We were hoping that the first game would be a night game, so we’d be able to easily go to the opening ceremony (on Wednesday night). But I think that’s up in the air at the moment whether we go or whether we don’t. But the ultimate goal is to make sure we’re ready to go and ready to perform our skills come that first game against India,” concluded Jess.
–IANS