‘Pumped’: Emotional Jonassen stoked to have Lanning back

Jess Jonassen says the tears were flowing when she learnt of long-time teammate and captain Meg Lanning's return to the Australian team, courtesy of an "awkward" video message.

Monday's first ODI against Pakistan will be the first time the pair play together since Australia's Commonwealth Games triumph in July last year, with Lanning returning from personal leave taken after victory in Birmingham.

The left-armer says she initially feared Lanning's video announcement to the team in December was going down a melancholic path, but was "pumped" to learn it was much the opposite.

"She sort of started off saying 'I'm not sure the right way to do this', and my heart sunk initially because I was like, 'oh no, she's gonna tell us that she's done'," Jonassen said.

"But she kept going on and saying how much she loves our team … so the longer the video went on the tearier I got and I just had this goofy smile on my face because I know what it's like at different points to feel a bit low.

"I flicked her a message straight away … and I must admit, I welled up a little bit and (I'm) really pleased for her."

Image Id: E5F2A966735445C0A69DB06B70953553 Image Caption: Lanning celebrates Jonassen’s wicket that clinched the 2022 ODI World Cup // Getty

Jonassen said she and other teammates were worried they had seen the last of Lanning in Australian colours, but expressed joy that she "genuinely looked happy" in her return to the team.

"For me, that was probably the biggest thing, seeing the difference in her as a human, more so than knowing that she's coming back and playing cricket," she said.

"Myself, along with others were probably always hopeful that she wasn't lost to cricket for good, but equally knowing what the pressures would have been like in her position.

"For somebody in her role within our team and within society, the leader of such a successful team, there's a weight on the shoulders there.

"So for her to be able to go out there and live a normal life for a few months, it was really cool to see and (I’m) really pleased that she's back in, and in a happy and healthy headspace."

The two are part of a 15-player squad, announced today, tasked with defending their T20 World Cup crown in South Africa next month.

Before then, the Aussies will first tackle Pakistan in three ODIs and T20s starting next week.

Jonassen, who injured her right hamstring in the opening match of Australia's recent five-game T20 tour of India, says she expects to be fit for her side's clash with Pakistan at Allan Border Field on Monday after making a swift recovery from her setback.

"I'm feeling really well, I had my final tick off I guess you can say, to do a bit of a return to play process and had some unrestricted fielding session this morning and that went really well," she told reporters on Tuesday.

"So all going well I'll hopefully be out in the field next Monday for the first ODI."

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Australia’s T20 World Cup squad: Meg Lanning (c), Alyssa Healy (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Heather Graham, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

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While winning a sixth T20 World Cup out of their last seven attempts is the big driving factor for the Aussies this year, Jonassen said she was particularly looking forward to the opportunity to play some 50-over cricket next week.

With a heavy focus on T20s in 2022, the 30-year-old was eager to get back into the longer format of the white-ball game.

"To be fair I'm looking forward to playing some 50 over cricket again, I feel like this last period of time has been real heavily T20-focused," she said.

"Obviously we had the Comm games and then coming back straight into WBBL and obviously with my injury as well I missed out on the last few WNCL rounds, so the opportunity to play some 50-over cricket I'm looking forward to first and foremost.

"Obviously we'd love to play more Test cricket, but I think in the current landscape for me I absolutely love 50-over cricket.

"As a bowler I love having 10 overs that I could potentially bowl and just the ebbs and flows throughout the contest, I really enjoy that.

"Sometimes T20 cricket is just over really quickly and sometimes you can have a bit of luck and that could be all it takes to differentiate between who wins and loses, whereas I sort of feel like in the 50-over format, the better team more often than not comes out on top."

The Aussies will play three T20s against Pakistan after their ODI series, before they fly out to South Africa in late January to begin preparations for the World Cup defence.

CommBank ODI Series

Monday Jan 16:Allan Border Field, Brisbane 10:05am

Wednesday Jan 18:Allan Border Field, Brisbane 10:05am

Saturday Jan 21:North Sydney Oval, 11:05am

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Australia ODI squad: Meg Lanning (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland

Pakistan ODI squad: Bismah Maroof (c), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Naseem, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Ghulam Fatima, Kainat Imtiaz, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sandhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Sadaf Shamas, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin, Sidra Nawaz