Women’s World Cup: Australian players not concerned by extensive travel load
The T20 World Cup campaign for Australia’s women cricketers is as much about how they deal with the extensive travel as much as the pressure of expectation. Nicola Carey says it’s all fine, though.
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When Ellyse Perry arrived at Perth Airport on Tuesday morning with strapping visible under the right sleeve of her Australian polo shirt, the cameras swarmed.
As she tried to casually stroll through to baggage check-in, all the attention following her wasn’t making it easy.
Having hit the winning runs for Australia against Sri Lanka on Monday night – but batting at the uncharacteristic No. 7 spot – questions were bound to be asked.
“Is the shoulder OK, Pez?”
Teammate Nicola Carey said there was no cause for concern.
“I didn’t even know she had strapping on her shoulder,” Carey said.
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“I haven’t seen her miss a (nets) session, she’s been at every session, and every game and has
bowled really well and batted really well when needed to, so I think she’s OK.”
Perry, who injured her shoulder during the WBBL in November last year, has been relatively quiet so far this ICC Women’s T20 World Cup.
In two games she’s had figures of 1/15 and 0/23 and with the bat has scored a duck and an unbeaten 5 (4 balls).
After Australia’s unconvincing five-wicket win over Sri Lanka in Perth, the Australians boarded a plane from Perth to Canberra – via Adelaide.
It raises the questions as to whether the gruelling T20 World Cup schedule is taking as much a toll on the team as the weight of expectation. The Australians play a game every three days and have travelled from Sydney to Perth to Canberra and will then finish up the group stages in Melbourne on Monday.
But Carey said the team was handling the travel well.
“A few girls got a cheeky little upgrade, which I’m sure they’re pretty happy about, (but) it’s all part of it, isn’t it?” she said.
“I’m really looking forward to getting back on the east coast and back to a normal time zone again, though.”
Carey came into the Australian XI for Monday’s game at the expense of teenager Annabel Sutherland, and it was a historic occasion for the 26-year-old: despite being in the Aussie squad for three World Cups, this was her first game in the tournament.
“I’m pretty good at mixing the drinks now,” she said with a laugh.
“It was nice to get out there … It was a pretty game for the team, so to get out there and play and contribute and get the win was really pleasing.”
Carey took the game-changing wicket of Sri Lankan captain Chamari Athapaththu (caught by Meg Lanning) just as she had hit her 50.
Australia next take on Bangladesh – a team they’ve never played before – at Manuka Oval on Thursday.
The Bangladeshi team might be an unknown, but the ground is well known to the Aussies and Carey said it would be nice to get back on deck and in conditions they were so familiar with.