Memories of World T20 triumph revived

The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars may not boast a wealth of experience playing in Sri Lanka, but the island nation brings back some fond memories for a core group of the Australian touring party.

The squad arrived in Colombo late on Monday night where they will begin their two-week tour with a one-day practice match at R. Premadasa Stadium in the nation’s capital.

The same venue as one of the side’s greatest triumphs nearly four years ago.

It was at the 35,000-capacity stadium that Australia managed to hold off arch rivals England in a tense finale to the 2012 edition of the ICC World Twenty20 tournament to secure the second piece of what would later become a memorable three-peat.

Current wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy played a key role in the tournament decider with 26 from 25 balls, while fellow contemporaries Meg Lanning, Alex Blackwell, Erin Osborne, Ellyse Perry and Jess Jonassen also basked in the glory as part of the championship side on that October afternoon.

“We were celebrating the World Cup win sitting right there,” Healy told cricket.com.au from the team hotel as the squad enjoyed a gym and pool session to recover from the previous day of travel.

“(Sri Lanka) has been a great place for us, especially at Premadasa Stadium.

“We’re looking forward to getting back there and taking on the Sri Lankans.”

As well as the triumph in the game’s shortest format at Premadasa, Healy also produced some individual brilliance at Sri Lanka’s premier cricket stadium during an ‘A’ tour of 2014.

On that occasion, the 26-year-old top scored with 73 runs at greater than a run per ball in her most recent encounter in Sri Lanka – albeit more than two years ago – for what will serve as a minor confidence boost leading into Australia’s maiden bilateral tour of the island.

The visitors are expecting to face the challenging spinning conditions that are synonymous with subcontinental cricket, but Healy believes the Stars are well-equipped to overcome any obstacles that are thrown their way.

“Adapting and adjusting to the conditions they throw at us over here will be really important,” she said.

“Having that practice under our belt and being in India not that long ago (for this year’s WT20) will put us in good stead for this series.

“They’re probably going to throw a bit of spin at us.

“I’m not too sure what sort of wickets we’re going to get with the one-day format.

“We’ll just try to adapt as best we can, take that challenge and roll with it to put some good performances on the board.”

The adaptation seen as being so crucial to success in Asia has resulted in Healy placing greater emphasis on her sweep shot – a weapon used as much defensively as it is to attack – during various training camps at the Bupa National Cricket Centre, as well as pre-season training with the NSW Breakers.

“Obviously in some of these conditions coming up, (the sweep shot) might come in handy,” Healy said.

“It’s not a big part of my game, but having that in your arsenal can be quite important over here.

“I’m always adding different things to my game and hopefully it can pay off.”

The squad will today ramp up their preparations for the ODI series with an afternoon training session ahead of Thursday’s practice match.

Fixtures

Tour match: R. Premadasa Stadium, 15 September at 2:20pm AEST

First ODI: Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, 18 September at 2:20pm AEST

Second ODI*: Rangiri Dambulla Stadium, 20 September at 2:20pm AEST

Third ODI*: R. Premadasa Stadium, 23 September at 2:20pm AEST

Fourth ODI*: R. Premadasa Stadium, 25 September at 2:20pm AEST

T20: SSC Ground, 27 September at 6:30pm AEST

*ICC Championship matches

You can follow regular updates from Australia’s tour match, four ODIs and T20 in Sri Lanka at @SouthernStars on Twitter.