Why NZ series is important for Aussies ahead of 'tricky' ICC event

Australia coach Shelley Nitschke concedes her team will have a "tricky" lead-in to the inaugural T20 Champions Trophy in India next February, with players to lean on individual preparation in T20 leagues given a gap in international matches.

The Rose Bowl is not the only thing on the line in the three-game T20I series against New Zealand starting in Sydney on Sunday – they will also be Australia's final matches in the format ahead of the new ICC tournament, where they'll be looking to add another trophy after reclaiming the T20 World Cup earlier this year.

With that in mind, Australia are hoping to pick up where they left off in England, where they claimed their seventh trophy with a dominant, unbeaten run through the tournament.

"Every time we take the field, it's important representing Australia, but also wanting to grow the game every time we get out there," Nitschke said in Sydney on Saturday.

"For us there's no other international T20s before the Champions Trophy so, they're as important as anything. There's still a bit of time before that Champions Trophy, and some domestic cricket to play. But it's just another opportunity for us to get out there as a team and working on and putting out the type of cricket that we want to play."

The six-team T20 Champions Trophy was originally scheduled for June 2027, and Australia had a tri-series against India and Sri Lanka pencilled in immediately prior as preparation.

The ICC's decision to bring the tournament forward to February, ostensibly to make way for an Olympic qualifying tournament, forced a shake-up of the schedule – and a rejig of Australia's home summer.

Australia are not the only team plotting how to navigate the changed schedule, given the Women's Premier League will run from January 14 to February 7, with no international cricket to be played in that window. India and South Africa will play T20Is in December, as will West Indies who host Pakistan, while Australia will travel to Sri Lanka for three ODIs. As it stands, England will go to the Champions Trophy having not played T20Is since their series against Ireland in September.

Australia's top players will have the benefit of a packed schedule between now and February, with Weber WBBL|12 to run from October 29 to December 5, before the trip to Sri Lanka.

At least 10 CA contracted players will then feature in the WPL, in the same conditions the Champions Trophy will be played in, giving them a valuable chance to reacclimate to Indian conditions. That number is expected to grow once the WPL auction is held on October 28, where a total of seven overseas slots are currently vacant.

Those who remain in Australia, meanwhile, will be able to play domestic one-dayers for their states in January.

"It's a tricky one," Nitschke said of how Australia would manage their preparation for the tournament with no T20Is in the next three months. "We don't have the full schedule yet for the Champions Trophy. There'll be the WPL in the lead up to that, and we'll have some players involved in that, and then it's just going to be a matter of what it looks like through that January period for the players that aren't there, and there'll be some warm-up games for the Champions Trophy.

"The WBBL is a really good chance for some players to play a lot of T20 cricket between now and then too."

Despite Australia's dominance at the T20 World Cup, where they nailed the aggressive, free-flowing brand of white-ball cricket they had been talking about for the past several years, captain Sophie Molineux said her team was still hunting for another level of freedom and were placing no limits on their T20 game.

Nitschke said with that in mind, the challenge of a new-look New Zealand outfit would be a good test.

"I think there's just a real appetite to continue to get better and grow as individuals and as a group. We're certainly under no illusions as to the competitive nature of New Zealand.

"They've got a new-look team, new-look coaching staff, and some young players in there in there too, so they'll be coming over here with nothing to lose. We're very wary of them."

NRMA Insurance Women's T20 Series v New Zealand

First T20I: Sunday, October 18

Second T20I: Tuesday, October 20

Third T20I: Thursday, October 22

* All matches played at North Sydney Oval starting at 7:15pm AEDT

Australia T20I squad: Sophie Molineux (c), Ashleigh Gardner (vc), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Nicola Carey, Kim Garth, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham 

New Zealand T20I squad: Melie Kerr (c), Eden Carson, Flora Devonshire, Maddy Green, Brooke Halliday, Bree Illing, Polly Inglis (wk), Bella James, Jess Kerr, Rosemary Mair, Nensi Patel, Molly Penfold, Georgia Plimmer, Hannah Rowe, Izzy Sharp

All women's international matches will be shown live on Seven, 7Plus, Kayo Sports and Foxtel