Reinvigorated Villani eyes big season

Elyse Villani hopes the momentum gathered by her successful return to Australian colours earlier this year will translate into success in the 50-over game in Sri Lanka this month.

The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars batter is a regular member of her country's T20 side, but has struggled to find the same consistency in one-day internationals since debuting in the format in January 2014.

But with a Women's World Cup less than a year away, Villani knows now is the time to make her move.

Dropped from Australia's one-day squad last summer after a lean start to the season, the enforced break ultimately worked in Villani's favour, as the reinvigorated opener found form in the later stages of the Rebel Women's Big Bash League to force her way back into the squad for the World T20 in India.

There, she was Australia's most consistent batter behind skipper Meg Lanning, scoring 171 runs including two half-centuries.

"(My main goal) at the moment is to do everything I can do be a consistent performer and stay in the team," Villani told cricket.com.au.

"I'm hoping I can take that T20 form from the World Cup and translate it into some ODI form moving forward.

"I've had a couple of opportunities with the ODI side, but I haven't quite mastered it yet, so I'm looking forward to trying to establish myself in that format this season."

There will be no shortage of opportunities for Villani to do exactly that over the next six months, with Australia's focus shifting to the one-day game as they seek to defend the title they won in India in 2013.

The Southern Stars will play four ODIs in Sri Lanka, before they host South Africa in a five-match series this November - the latter will be live streamed on this website and the Cricket Australia Live app.

A three-match ODI tour of New Zealand will follow next February.

Given her success on subcontinent pitches earlier this year, Villani should be feeling confident.

"I'm focusing on all avenues of my game, but I'm particularly concentrating on playing spin," she said.

Australia batters are hoping to fare better against Sri Lanka's spinner than their male counterparts and have been honing their skills at a series of camps during the preseason.

They undertook an eight-day spin intensive in Brisbane in June, being put through their paces on both the unique hybrid wicket and the new red soil-based pitch that imitates subcontinental conditions at the Bupa National Cricket Centre.

They played a series of intra-club matches on the Sunshine Coast in July and returned to Brisbane last week for a final tune-up before they fly to Sri Lanka on September 12.