Melbourne: Allrounder Tahlia McGrath has described her upcoming stint with Australia A as the “perfect World Cup preparation” as she looks to try a few new tricks following her off-season.
She will lead Australia A in three T20s and three one-dayers against India A, with the series getting underway at Brisbane’s AB Field on Wednesday.
This will be McGrath’s first competitive outing since Australia’s tour of Bangladesh in April. Later, she opted to forgo her nomination for The Hundred draft to spend a longer winter at home.
“I’m really looking forward to it. It’s an opportunity to get some game time under my belt leading into the World Cup,” McGrath told cricket.com.au in the lead-up to the series.
“(It’s also) a really good opportunity to try some things I’ve been working on in preseason, to get some time in the middle and to also work on my leadership with the opportunity to captain the side,” she said.
McGrath, one of two contracted Australian players set to participate in the white-ball segments of the multi-format tour, will be joined by Tayla Vlaeminck. She is looking forward to competing against Shweta Sehrawat, Kiran Navgire, and Soppadhandi Yashasri, her former teammates from UP Warriorz in the Women’s Premier League earlier this year.
“I think it’s a perfect World Cup prep, it’s a bit of freedom to try some things and work out what parts of my game will work against certain types of bowlers and then go from there. I’ve been working on a few things so to get an opportunity to trial them before heading over to the World Cup is perfect prep for me.
“The best thing about Aus A series are they are a lot of fun. It’s an opportunity to get out there with an enthusiastic group, a wide range of young talent (alongside) older domestic superstars and just to come together and play against India A is always going to be really exciting,” she said.
–IANS