Phoebe Litchfield and Grace Harris won’t be a part of Australia’s warm-up matches for the Women’s T20 World Cup 2024. The 21-year-old Litchfield recently complained off groin soreness and a call on her availability for the first group match will be taken in due course.
The 31-year-old Harris, on the other hand, has resumed training after suffering a niggle while training earlier, Cricket Australia (CA) said in a statement. Whether she gains full fitness for Australia’s group games remains to be seen.
Litchfield has been in decent form after she scored a match-winning 64 against New Zealand in the three-match T20I series against New Zealand. Back in 2023, Litchfield also smacked the joint-fastest fifty in Women’s T20Is off 18 balls, equalling Sophie Devine’s record.
Harris, on the other hand, is one of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball, having scored 474 runs from 29 innings at a strike-rate of 164.01.
If Litchfield and Harris don’t get fit, Australia have the required firepower in the middle-order. Ellyse Perry, Georgia Wareham, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland and Ash Gardner lend solidity to their batting order.
Australia’s first warm-up match is against Heather Knight’s England on September 29, followed by their other practice game on October 1 against the West Indies at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai
Alyssa Healy’s women will lock horns with Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lanka on Saturday, October 5 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. They will also face India, New Zealand and Pakistan in the group stage.
Australia are the most successful team in the T20 World Cup and have also won the title three times in a row in 2018, 2020 and 2023. Last time around, they beat South Africa in the final under the leadership of Meg Lanning, who retired from international cricket last year.
