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New Hundred role will run concurrently with existing duties at Derbyshire

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Jan-2025Mickey Arthur, Derbyshire’s head of cricket, is set to combine his duties at the club with a new role as director of cricket at Northern Superchargers.Derbyshire finished rock-bottom of the County Championship in 2024, with one win in 14 matches in Division Two, and failed to reach the knock-outs in either the T20 Blast or the Metro Bank One-Day Cup.However, Arthur’s managerial experience, which includes a recent stint as Pakistan’s team director, has proven attractive to Superchargers, where he will work alongside the men’s and women’s head coaches, Andrew Flintoff and Lisa Keightley.He will advise the Hundred teams on recruitment and offer support to the head coaches, but Derbyshire insist his role at Superchargers will be “largely hands-off”. He will remain with the county during the Metro Bank One-Day Cup which runs concurrently to the Hundred.”Derbyshire remains my primary focus and I’m committed to achieving our goals of bringing success to the club,” Arthur said. “We encourage all of our players and coaches to develop their skills in new environments and this is another example of that.”As a club, our personnel are in demand and that’s a testament to the work being done behind the scenes, and we are confident results will soon come on-field.”Ryan Duckett, Derbyshire’s chief executive, added: “Mickey remains fully committed to Derbyshire, he lives and breathes the club and we hope that he can use this opportunity to showcase the quality Derbyshire has.”It’s been a positive winter, with Mickey, Wayne [Madsen] and Zak [Chappell] lifting silverware overseas, while Harry Moore and Pat Brown have represented us within the England setup recently.”Our squad has been working hard over the winter, and this will ramp up even further over the next couple of months to give us the best possible chance of success in 2025, with an exciting summer ahead.”

He posted on social media that he would be “open” to next year’s tournament in Pakistan

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Jul-2024David Warner has again left the door ajar to appear in next year’s Champions Trophy despite announcing his international retirement over the last 12 months.Warner retired from Test cricket in January when he also announced that last year’s ODI World Cup was his final outing in the 50-over format, but talked of being available for the Champions Trophy if he was needed. Last month his international career ended with Australia’s exit from the T20 World Cup.Related

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However, in an Instagram post reflecting on his career, Warner made another reference to the Champions Trophy which will be staged in Pakistan next February and March.”I will continue to play franchise cricket for a while, and I am also open to playing for [Australia] in the Champions Trophy if selected,” he posted.It is a highly unlikely scenario given Warner will not be available for any of Australia’s matches in the lead-up to the tournament. They tour England in September for ODIs then face Pakistan in November when Jake Fraser-McGurk, who Warner has endorsed as his successor, will be one of the frontrunners to come in at the top of the order. Back in January, Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins responded to the prospect of Warner making a one-off return for the Champions Trophy.”I think it’s probably time to give some others a crack [in ODIs], but knowing that he’s going to still be playing cricket,” he said. “So it might be more of a kind of break glass in an emergency option. But, you know, David is going to be scoring runs somewhere in the world. So you never quite know that this is [the end].”Warner finished his ODI career with 6932 runs at 45.30 with 22 hundreds, a tally second to only Ricky Ponting.”Chapter closed!! It’s been an unbelievable experience to play at the highest level for such a long period,” Warner began his Instagram post. “Australia was my team. The majority of my career was at the international level. It’s been an honour to be able to do this. 100+ games in all formats is my highlight.”I want to say thanks to everyone out there who has made this possible. My wife and my girls, who sacrificed so much, thank you for all your support. No person will ever know what we’ve been through. For all the cricket fans out there, I truly hope I have entertained you and changed cricket, especially tests, in a way where we scored a bit faster than others. We cannot do what we love without the fans, so thanks.”Warner will be in action in Canada’s GT20 and a T10 tournament in the Cayman Islands over the coming months while Sydney Thunder remain confident of seeing him return for the BBL although he also has a deal with Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 which overlaps and commentary commitments.

Jasprit Bumrah has been rested from the ODI series but is in the T20I squad

ESPNcricinfo staff04-Oct-20251:19

Chopra: Rohit’s place in the side will now depend on form

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been picked in India’s ODI squad for the series in Australia starting on October 19, marking their international comebacks after last playing in the 2025 Champions Trophy final in March. The squad will be led by Shubman Gill, who has replaced Rohit as the ODI captain, with Shreyas Iyer the vice-captain.The selection panel, headed by former India fast bowler Ajit Agarkar, met on Saturday in Ahmedabad, where India won the first Test of the series against West Indies by an innings and 140 runs.There are five changes to the ODI squad from the 15 that won the Champions Trophy in the UAE in March: Ravindra Jadeja and Varun Chakravarthy are missing, Hardik Pandya is recovering from a quadriceps injury, Rishabh Pant has not yet fully recovered from the broken foot he suffered in England, and Jasprit Bumrah has been rested. They have been replaced by allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was injured for the Champions Trophy, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal.Related

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“With regards to Jaddu [Jadeja], I mean look, at the moment to take two left-arm spinners to Australia is not possible. He is clearly in the scheme of things with how good he is, but there will be some competition for places,” Agarkar said. “Of course he was there in the Champions Trophy squad, because we took those extra spinners with the conditions there [in UAE]. At the moment we could only carry one and get some balance in the team with Washi [Washington Sundar] and Kuldeep there as well. I don’t think we are going to need more than that in Australia. It’s a short series, you can’t accommodate everyone and unfortunately at the moment he is missing out, but it’s nothing more than that.”Bumrah is part of the T20I squad for the five matches in Australia after the ODI series. The only change to the T20I squad that won the Asia Cup last month is Hardik being replaced by Reddy, while Washington has been added, making it a squad of 16.”We have already rested him for the one-day games. When we can manage his workload, we will do that,” Agarkar said about Bumrah. “Wherever you can give him a break, you will, because we all know how important he is, but we have also got to see what is in the interest of the team. And when we need him to play, he is always available, but we will look after [him]. Not just him, Siraj bowls a lot of overs as well. There are other guys who do play Test cricket, who will end up having a lot of bowling to do, so we will try and manage all the seamers, so that we minimise the risk of injuries.”Agarkar indicated that Gill and Rohit were likely to open in the ODIs, which means Jaiswal could miss out on a place in the starting XI. He also said Jurel was picked ahead of Sanju Samson in the ODI squad due to batting position, while KL Rahul is likely to remain the first-choice wicketkeeper.”Sanju Samson bats at the top of the order,” Agarkar said. “I think when he got a 100, I think he batted No. 3, if I am not wrong. Jurel usually bats lower down the order. KL bats there as well. You have seen how good a player Dhruv is. Again, you are looking at spots. I don’t think there is room at the top again. So, we are looking at guys who can fit in those spots. Obviously, Sanju at the moment in T20 cricket is batting there [middle order] and we are trying him there. But in one-day cricket, it’s a little bit different. So, that’s basically the thought. It’s more the position than anything else.”India play three ODIs in Australia on October 19, 23 and 25, followed by five T20Is between October 29 and November 8.

India’s ODI squad for Australia

Shubman Gill (capt), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (vice-capt), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (wk), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

India’s T20I squad for Australia

Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill (vice-capt), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wk), Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Sanju Samson (wk), Rinku Singh, Washington Sundar.

Kamboj’s performance was among his most impactful yet in a nascent first-class career

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Sep-2024Haryana seamer Anshul Kamboj’s career-best haul of 8 for 69 and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s second half-century of the match were the major highlights on a dull fourth day in Anantapur, as India C’s second Duleep Trophy 2024-25 fixture petered to a tame draw.Having begun the day on 309 for 7, India B were bowled out for 332 with Kamboj picking up all three wickets to fall. Abhimanyu Easwaran, the India B captain, carried his bat through and was unbeaten on 157 as his side conceded a 193-run lead early on the final day.At this point, it seemed certain only India C could force a victory if they wished to. They instead decided to settle for the first-innings honours and were at 128 for 4 after 37 overs when both captains decided to shake hands.Kamboj’s performance was among his most impactful yet in a nascent first-class career. Coming into his 15th game, Kamboj hadn’t taken more than three wickets in a single innings previously. His eight-for in Anantapur brought him the second-best figures by a fast bowler in Duleep Trophy history, behind Debasis Mohanty (10 for 46).India C lost B Sai Sudharsan early when Mukesh Kumar had him bowled for 11. Gaikwad and Rajat Patidar put on 96 for the second wicket, Patidar hitting 42 to go with his first innings 40, before falling to Musheer Khan’s left-arm spin.Rahul Chahar, the legspinner, then had first-innings centurion Ishan Kishan for 1, followed by Gaikwad’s scalp in his very next over. The only blip for India C in this game was a leg injury to pacer Sandeep Warrier, which led to him hobbling off after just 1.1 overs.Manav Suthar, who picked up a match-winning seven-for in the first round of matches, went wicketless in this game. His figures read: 33-4-85-0. Musheer, the player of the match last week for his 181, managed just 1 while Sarfaraz Khan, asked to play in this fixture before linking up with the Indian Test squad in Chennai, managed 16.

England coach says team must block out outside noise and focus on two crucial points

ESPNcricinfo staff12-Jun-2024Matthew Mott, England’s head coach, says he hopes that Josh Hazlewood was joking about the prospect of Australia manipulating an early exit for the T20 World Cup defending champions, but admits his team can do little else but focus on victory against Oman on Thursday and hope the ongoing debate about run-rate calculations ends up falling in their favour.England were a distant second-best to Australia in their meeting in Barbados last week, and having endured a washed-out opening fixture against Scotland – who have since won two from two – they are no longer in control of their destiny in Group B, a situation which echoes their tame and early exit from the 50-over World Cup in India before Christmas.Even England’s own back-to-back victories over Oman and Namibia may not be sufficient to overturn their sizeable NRR deficit to the Scots – a point which Hazlewood highlighted when he suggested that Australia could be tempted to “knock it around and drag it out” when they themselves face Scotland in Group B’s final match in Antigua on Sunday.Such a tactic would echo Steve Waugh’s infamous go-slow against West Indies at the 1999 World Cup – when the target for elimination on that occasion had been New Zealand – but it would come with the risk of a two-match ban for their current captain, Mitchell Marsh, if Australia were deemed by the umpires to have contravened Article 2.11 of the ICC’s code of conduct, which pertains to the “inappropriate strategic or tactical” manipulation of matches.But Mott, who coached Hazlewood during his time at New South Wales, played down the comments as an example of his “tongue-in-cheek” sense of humour.”I think I know Josh pretty well and I know his integrity,” Mott said. “He has got a very good sense of humour and I am hoping it was very much tongue-in-cheek. I actually don’t think it is ever going to play out. Having grown up in Australia, and the will to win every game, I am sure they will come to the fore. I am very much hoping it was an offhand remark by a really good bloke who is having fun.”Either way, the potential for a run-rate rumpus is the sort of distraction that England could do without, given their lack of fluency in the tournament to date. Even before the Scotland match was abandoned, they had been notably off the pace with the ball in conceding 90 wicketless runs in ten overs, and the pressure to perform to the standard expected of defending champions is ramping up again, especially in light of their grim display in their 50-over defence last year.Related

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“Regardless of any outside noise about qualification, run-rates, all that sort of stuff, essentially, we’ve got to win this game and we’ve spoken a lot about that,” Mott said. “We’ve played good T20 cricket for a while now. It didn’t quite come off against Australia last game but I think we’ve got our structure in place, we’re really confident. Those who saw us train yesterday, you can see a buoyant group, up and about, that’s ready for the challenge ahead.”To offset any run-rate shenanigans, England need to beat Oman and Namibia by a combined margin of 117 runs (or the equivalent when chasing), thereby hauling their net run-rate above Scotland’s, so that only a surprise defeat of Australia can prevent them from progressing. But first things first, England must defeat a team that Scotland themselves saw off with 41 balls to spare in a pointedly fast finish in Antigua on Sunday.”We’re treating this game with Oman in isolation,” Mott said. “They’ve got our full attention. If we get into a position where we’re in a dominant position and can push hard, we will. If we have to scrap and fight and get the two points, we will as well. So, we’ll just keep an open mind, as we always will.”But essentially, we want to play that brand of cricket. I think we had glimpses of it the other day. I thought we started well with the bat, but to get a full performance in is really important. Get that on-field confidence. I think we’re really close, but obviously it’s been a bit of a disjointed tournament so far.”

“I think it’s finding when he comes in, how we can find balance and get the batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger”

Sidharth Monga25-Jul-20254:35

Morkel defends India’s tactics with the ball

After India conceded 500 for the first time in over ten years outside Asia and the West Indies, the bowling coach Morne Morkel was not sure he had answers for many questions – dropping pace of the bowlers, use of Shardul Thakur as the bowling allrounder, delayed injection of Washington Sundar into the attack – but one thing he was certain of: that India have been making selections looking for batting cover.Morkel was asked repeatedly about the repeated exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav, a unique strike bowler who has not played a single Test on this tour. “I think it’s finding when he comes in, how we can find balance and how we can get that batting line-up to be a little bit longer and stronger,” Morkel said. “We’ve seen in the past that we’ve lost wickets in clumps. Kuldeep is world class and he’s bowling really well at the moment, so we’re trying our best to find ways for him to get in. But unfortunately, with that, just to balance with batting throws it out a little bit.”Morkel was asked again why India were being so defensive. “I do think at the end of the day you need runs on the board, and for us obviously giving that a little bit of extra batting protection, wanting to get totals of 400-plus,” he said. “You need it against England, especially the way they play, their brand of cricket.Related

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“But to be honest, the wicket so far has been dry and it’s actually spun a little bit. So that brings Washington into the game. It brings Jaddu [Jadeja] into the game. So Kuldeep, we are trying to find a way for him, but it is just more that consistent runs from our top six that we want so that we can bring a guy like Kuldeep in.”Morkel was asked why the side doesn’t think that playing proper strike bowlers also reduces the batters’ burden by winning them matches with fewer runs. “There’s always an option of going in with quicks and picking your six best bat,” Morkel said. “All those discussions we have had or we do discuss. But I think so far in this match, the last two Test matches, the guys who have played have done a good job in terms of spin bowling. We were ever so close to winning that Test match at Lord’s. We had a great Test match at Edgbaston. So I think so far we’ve played good cricket, good cricket bar yesterday’s bowling performance.”That does bring one to the question of why India couldn’t create as much jeopardy as England did after three Tests of looking like a potentially better bowling unit. Morkel felt that India went searching too much on day two, which is when they ended up bowling too straight and leaked runs. He said they were better with their areas on the third day, but they needed more energy on the ball. He was asked about the drop in the pace of the whole unit.”That’s something that we’re trying to get our heads around,” Morkel said. “On a surface where it gets a little bit flat, you need a little bit of energy behind the ball. I think that’s definitely one of the factors for us so far in our bowling innings. Just getting that little bit of extra zip off the wicket to create the opportunities for caught behind and lbw.Washington Sundar made an immediate impact after being introduced into the attack rather late•Getty Images

“But yeah, I mean to look at the workloads of guys like Siraj and those sort of guys, they’ve had heavy workloads. Anshul [Kamboj]’s first Test match so far, and it’s important for us to grow and develop a nice fast-bowling unit. So not too much to judge on that. Also, a heavier sort of outfield. But in terms of commitment and effort that the guys have put in, I don’t think we can fault that. It’s just a good point you made. You need a little bit of energy on the ball on good surfaces where the ball at times is not doing as much.”Kamboj, the debutant who bowled in the late 120kphs, was picked practically straight off the flight ahead of Prasidh Krishna, who has been with the squad and played the first two Tests. “The discussion going into the Test match was somebody, a bowler that can bowl volume, one guy to bowl overs. Somebody who can ask questions at the stumps, off stump, an accurate sort of bowler. And Anshul, I think I’m sure at domestic level has done that. He’s done really well on the India A tour here, and he was a guy whose name’s been in the mix for a long time, and they gave him the opportunity for that.”About the lack of bowling for Thakur, Morkel said: “A bit of a tough fit when you have four seamers. When you’re going at five runs and over, I think as a captain, you want to bring strike bowlers back to try and take the wickets. Unfortunately, it happened for Shadul in that first Test match as well.”Washington was the last bowler used and he took two wickets and brought some control. “Shubman just made the call in there to stick a little bit longer with the seam options,” Morkel said. “I think in the first couple of days we saw the ball moving around and seaming around and pace on the ball was the way to go and then when we got the opportunity to bowl, we missed our length. So did we bowl enough good balls to say that we need to go to spin straightaway? I don’t think so. And I think when he got the opportunity today with ball in hand, Washi did a great job for us.”

Carse and Stokes picked the two wickets while Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 42

ESPNcricinfo staff20-Jun-2025

Yashasvi Jaiswal looked fluent in his first Test outing in England•Getty Images

Lunch England took two wickets in six balls on the stroke of lunch to change the complexion of the first session of the newly-minted Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. India’s openers, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, had been largely untroubled throughout their 91-run opening stand after being put in by Ben Stokes. But, Rahul and debutant Sai Sudharsan fell just before the interval.Jaiswal batted through the first session of his first Test in England unscathed and traded crisply-struck boundaries with Rahul. The pair shared 16 fours, all through the off side, as England’s seamers tried and failed to induce outside edges, and did not offer a catching chance for the first 114 minutes of the day.Related

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The only scare for Jaiswal came when he was struck on the ribs by Brydon Carse, who shared the new ball with Chris Woakes in his first home Test. He otherwise scored fluently and batted with the same freedom he had shown in the most recent series between these teams, when he piled on 712 runs in five matches.England were so desperate for a wicket that they burned an lbw review on a ball from around the wicket which pitched outside leg stump. Josh Tongue bowled with good pace and his inswinger trapped Jaiswal on the pad in his second over, but the decision to review was hugely optimistic and reflected their frustrations.But Carse struck with a full, wide outswinger, which Rahul edged straight to Joe Root at slip for 42, and debutant Sudharsan strangled his fourth ball in Test cricket down the leg side to Jamie Smith off Stokes. England’s double-strike left the game in the balance, and took some of the scrutiny off Stokes’ decision to bowl first at the toss.

Teenage opener agrees first county stint; Migael Pretorius penciled in for Somerset return

ESPNcricinfo staff14-Feb-2025Hampshire have signed 18-year-old South African opener Lhuan-dre Pretorius as one of their overseas players for this year’s Vitality Blast. Pretorius has yet to be capped at senior level by South Africa, but finished as the leading run-scorer at the recently completed SA20.A hard-hitting left-hander who can also keep wicket, Pretorius made his T20 debut last year after impressing for South Africa at the Under-19 World Cup, and currently averages 27.60 with a strike rate of 147.17 in the format.He caught the eye of Hampshire’s coach, Adi Birrell, when scoring 97 off 51 in his first outing for Paarl Royals, against Sunrisers Eastern Cape at this year’s SA20, with Birrell also in charge at SEC.Related

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“It’s a real honour to play for Hampshire Hawks in this year’s Vitality Blast as my first experience of playing cricket in England,” Pretorius said. “The team is full of exciting names whom I look forward to playing alongside and sharing a dressing room with as we look to lift the trophy.”Hampshire, winners of the Blast in 2022, finished seventh in the South Group last season, missing out on the knockouts for the first time in four years.Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, said: “Lhuan-dre impressed with his batting during the recent SA20 and played a number of eye-catching innings against some of the best bowlers in the world. He’s a special talent with a big future, and we are delighted that he is joining us for this year’s Vitality Blast.”

Migael Pretorius back at Somerset

Migael Pretorius made an impact with bat and ball last season•Getty Images

Somerset, meanwhile, have confirmed a return for allrounder Migael Pretorius. The 29-year-old made eight County Championship appearances last year, scoring 338 runs to go with 23 wickets. He is expected to be available for the duration of the 2025 season across all three formats.”I really enjoyed my time at Somerset in 2024 and I’m looking forward to joining up with the team again this summer,” Pretorius said. “There’s a really positive atmosphere around the club and I was impressed by the level of support that the players get at every game, both home and away. The team came so close to winning a trophy last year and hopefully I can help Somerset to get over the line in 2025.”Somerset director of cricket, Andy Hurry, added: “Following his time with us during 2024, Migael knows what it means to represent the club and understands what we are aspiring to achieve here.”He has a proven ability to impact games, and he will add further all-round quality as well as depth to our already impressive seam attack. Understanding how demanding the season is for teams competing across all three competitions, we feel that squad depth will be a vital factor for us.”

India A gather healthy lead after India D are skittled out for 183

Shashank Kishore13-Sep-2024Khaleel Ahmed’s India career hasn’t quite taken off, but a decent IPL opened the doors for a white-ball return in Zimbabwe in July for the first time since 2019. Now, Khaleel is working his way back up to a steady diet of first-class cricket.The ongoing Duleep Trophy fixture is only his 14th since his debut in 2017, and with Yash Dayal having leapfrogged him to the Indian Test squad for Bangladesh, Khaleel had another opportunity to impress. On Friday, he built on his five wickets from the opening round to pick up another three first-innings wickets to give India A control.Having added just two runs to their overnight 288 for 8, India A bowled out India C for just 183, with Khaleel turning in a superb spell of swing and seam bowling to finish with 3 for 39.While he just bowled eight overs, he managed to create opportunities and kept batters guessing with his late movement and lift. He dismissed Atharva Taide with a wicked inswinger that he shouldered arms to off the third ball of the innings and then had Shreyas Iyer for a seven-ball duck in his second over.Iyer, seemingly troubled by the away-movement and a short ball that he somehow managed to sway out of, fell as he lobbed a full delivery to mid-on, unable to fully commit to the shot because he had been hanging back in the crease.Khaleel’s third was Zaheer Khan-esque for the angle he managed to create from around the stumps as he bent one back in late to strike Ricky Bhui on the pads. Bhui was overbalanced and was trapped plumb in front.File photo: Devdutt Padikkal scored 92 of India D’s total of 183 all out•PTI

Khaleel’s fire from one end was matched by the intensity of young Uttar Pradesh quick Aaqib Khan. Just 12 first-class games old, Aaqib isn’t express pace but makes up for that with his control and minute deviations off the pitch. In what is possibly his most high-profile first-class appearance so far, Aaqib remained unfazed by the quality of batters up against him.One of his three wickets early in his spell was that of the returning Sanju Samson, whose stay lasted just six deliveries as he miscued a pull to mid-on. Aaqib finished with 3 for 41.For India D, only Devdutt Padikkal was among the runs, a punchy 92 filled with sumptuous cover drives and a solid back foot game, especially off his statemate Prasidh Krishna, who bowled a lot better than his figures of 11-4-30-1 suggest.Prasidh had the last laugh, however, when he had Padikkal with one that decked away sharply to take the edge through to the wicketkeeper. Padikkal’s 92 came off just 124 balls with wickets falling around him. He hit 15 boundaries in his knock.Having taken a 107-run lead, Mayank Agarwal and Pratham Singh tucked into a tired attack to hit half-centuries late in the day, before an innocuous delivery from Iyer had Agarwal tamely lobbing a return catch in the dying moments of play.

Australia’s captain said her side were challenged by Bangladesh’s bowlers in tough conditions

Andrew McGlashan05-Apr-2024Alyssa Healy was left delighted with the experience and knowledge her team were able to take away from the tour of Bangladesh with an eye on the T20 World Cup later this year.Australia completed a cleansweep of the visit, their first in bilateral cricket, with a 77-run victory in the final T20I and it was the fourth time their bowling attack kept Bangladesh to under 100. They will return in late September to defend the T20 World Cup title and Healy believed the trip ticked plenty of boxes.Related

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“Everyone in the squad is taking something home that they can work on for when we come back here in September, so it’s been hugely worthwhile for us,” Healy said. “The results went our way but from a big picture perspective, and what we’re building towards in September, October, I think we got everything we possibly could out of this series.”The tour was concluded with two players returning from long-term injuries, Tayla Vlaeminck and Sophie Molineux, taking player of the match and series awards respectively. Vlaeminck took a career-best 3 for 12 while Molineux finished the T20I series with six wickets at 8.33 as the pair all-but assured their places at the World Cup.”It’s obviously great to have someone like Tay back, she’s a real point of different within world cricket, with the sheer pace she bowls with, and Soph Molineux’s consistency is outstanding so they’re both real attributes to our side,” Healy said.Tayla Vlaeminck made a mark on her return to Australia duty•Getty Images

“We’ve had different players of the match and different players of the series across the two series, so that’s been really pleasing as well. Everybody’s standing up and when they need to, and grabbing opportunities which is cool.”Although the margins of victory were convincing in all six matches, Healy felt her team had been put under pressure by the home side. In the first ODI they were 48 for 4 and 146 for 7 before the lower order lifted them to a strong total and in the final T20I had to work hard to post 155 from being 98 for 5.”In particular with the ball they [Bangladesh] challenged our batting line-up,” she said. “They will be a real threat come the World Cup. Home conditions are a real advantage and I think the team will fly under the radar a little bit. They’ll be really dangerous for some of the top sides.”The conditions, especially the heat, also pushed the visitors with Healy prepared for more of the same at the World Cup although did not expect the pitches early in the tournament to offer the extreme turn seen at times in this series. Australia will split their matches between Dhaka and Sylhet which was not part of this tour.”We’ve heard it [the heat] will be even worse come September, October so we’ll have to wait and see what it throws at us there,” Healy said. “Naturally being an ICC event, I think the wickets will start out being really good then probably tire throughout the tournament.”1:59

Nigar credits parents for helping girls follow cricket dreams

Kim Garth, who took five wickets in the two ODIs she played, and legspinner Alana King did not feature in the T20I series as Australia used just 12 players in three games. King has not played a T20I since the last World Cup in South Africa although will likely retain her spot as back-up to Georgia Wareham. The experienced Jess Jonassen was the significant omission for this tour while Darcie Brown was ruled out with a stress fracture of her foot.The central contract list will be announced early next week while the players themselves now have time off following a hectic season which included series against West Indies, India and South Africa alongside the WBBL and, for many, the WPL.They will return to action with a T20I series against New Zealand in September as a lead-in to the World Cup, which will be followed straight after by the WBBL. They then host India in December and travel to New Zealand before Christmas ahead of the multiformat Ashes in January.”We’ve got a great break now. Our group is looking forward to going home and having a little bit of time off and a great opportunity to refresh and actually get ourselves right for the back end of the year, which is a huge summer for us,” Healy said.