Jonassen eyeing elevation after surgery

Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars allrounder Jess Jonassen is eyeing a move up the order as she recovers from the knee surgery that put paid to her hopes of appearing in the inaugural England Women’s Super League.

Jonassen returned to the nets at the Bupa National Cricket Centre in Brisbane this week after undergoing surgery for surgery on her left knee in April.

It was her second knee surgery in less than 18 months, a frustrating setback for the 23-year-old.

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But with the attention of the Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars now firmly on their tour of Sri Lanka this September, Jonassen is focused on re-capturing the batting form that saw her score 99 on Test debut in England last year.

"I need to get my body right first, but I’m looking to improve all areas of my game going into this summer," Jonassen told cricket.com.au. "I’m quite fortunate to have great facilities here in Brisbane and (coach) Matthew Mott here as well, so I’ll be doing plenty hard work to hopefully cement myself in middle to top order.

"Hopefully I’ll be able to give opening another crack again some time."

Jonassen has opened for Australia on nine occasions, the most recent of which came during a three-match Twenty20 series against Ireland last August.

But the Southern Stars have tried eight different opening combinations across both ODIs and T20s since and while they stuck with Alyssa Healy and Elyse Villani throughout during the World T20 in India earlier this year, Jonassen could still have ample opportunity to stake her claim on a spot at the top of the order – particularly in the 50-over format, as Australia look for their ideal XI ahead of next year’s World Cup.

"It’s been a little while, but hopefully I’ll progress my batting over this preseason and be able to open in the Big Bash League this season as well."

Jonassen had signed on with Lancashire Thunder for the first-ever Women’s Super League in England next month.

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She said the decision to pull out of the tournament and instead use Australia’s five-month break from international cricket for her knee operation had been a difficult one.

"It was a pretty tough decision, to weigh up being part of history in the UK.

"But at the same time I had the long term at the forefront of my mind and making sure I’d be fully fit for Australian tours and summer outweighed (playing in England) pretty easily in the end.

"Throughout last season I was battling with a torn meniscus so when we had some down time and leave, I decided to get that fixed up.

"We’re quite fortunate got a fair bit of time up sleeves until tour in September but I’m aiming to be 100 per cent fully fit the month leading up to that tour."

It was the left-armer’s second knee surgery in as many years, after her 2014-15 domestic summer ended prematurely when she underwent a similar procedure, and keeping fit will mean carefully managing the troublesome joint.

"This time it was the same sort of issue but on the other side.

"Going forward I’ll have a fair bit of maintenance in terms of stability stuff, maintaining my strength because I’ve now lost that shock absorber on either side of my knee, so I need to be really strong to make sure I can play pain free."

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Now she has returned to the nets, Jonassen is firmly focused on fine-tuning her left-arm orthodox spin on the NCC’s unique hybrid wicket and the new red soil-based pitch that imitates subcontinental conditions, while also ensuring she is ready to excel with the bat in the conditions.

"Spinners always look forward to subcontinent. We faced a few challenges in India recently and I think Sri Lanka play quite similar to that, so I think a few of us are looking forward to rectifying any errors we may have made over in India.”