Haynes to captain Australia in Ashes

Rachael Haynes says it is a "huge honour" to be appointed stand-in Australian captain for the upcoming Commonwealth Bank Women's Ashes in place of an injured Meg Lanning.

Haynes was officially unveiled as Australia's skipper for the multi-format Ashes on Wednesday and will lead the Southern Stars against England in three ODIs, a day-night Test and three T20Is.

Lanning underwent surgery on her troublesome right shoulder in August and has been ruled out for 6-8 months, meaning she won't take any part in the 2017-18 home summer.

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Haynes only returned to the Australian squad in February following a three-and-a-half-year absence, but was also given the nod to stand in for Lanning in two Women's World Cup matches in July ahead of experienced vice-captain Alex Blackwell, becoming Australia's 17th ODI captain.

Those two group matches against South Africa and Pakistan were also the only matches Haynes played during the 50-over tournament, but the 30-year-old left-hander is set to feature heavily through the seven-match Ashes series.

"It's a huge honour," Haynes told cricket.com.au. "I had the opportunity in the World Cup and that was great but to captain in an Ashes series, in such a huge series, it's a huge honour and it's something I'm really excited about."

Haynes was informed of her appointment at the beginning of Australia's pre-Ashes training camp in Brisbane last week.

She'll become Australia's 19th Test captain when the first ever women's day-night Test gets underway at North Sydney Oval on November 9, and the Southern Stars' sixth T20 captain.

"It's a big responsibility to captain Australia," she said. "The team has been fantastic, we had a chat about what it means and Meg has been extremely supportive as well.

"I have Alex (Blackwell) there too as vice-captain so I'm feeling really confident in terms of the support I'll have around me and I'm just looking forward to getting back together as a squad when we come back into camp."

While Australia have a host of experienced leaders in their ranks to choose from – including vice-captain Blackwell, who has previously captained the Southern Stars, alongside Sydney Sixers captain Ellyse Perry and Alyssa Healy, it's the similarities between Lanning and Haynes' leadership styles that saw the Victorian-born batter chosen for the role.

Haynes said she was enjoying the certainly of knowing she would be in charge for each match more than a month out from the start of the series, which kicks off at Brisbane's AB Field on October 22.

"There's lots of certainty around it … that gives me a great opportunity to plan and to talk to the playing group and players individually about their roles and the sorts of things they'll be executing.

"From my perspective it's great we've now got this lead-in time and everyone knows what's happening."

The Sydney Thunder batter is also confident both she and the team will be able to adapt to the challenge of playing all three formats in the space of a month.

"I've been part of a multi-format Ashes before and I know what to expect.

"There's days there so much cricket played, we all know the changes you need to make across the different formats so we'll be well planned for that."

Haynes' hiatus from international cricket ended in February when she was a last-minute call-up to the Australian ODI squad as injury cover for Blackwell.

She impressed in her international return, scoring fifty against New Zealand in Auckland, and her composed return was enough to earn a 2017-18 contract offer and the opportunity to continue a career that has seen her play three Tests, 36 ODIs and 27 T20s since making her debut at Lord's in 2009.

Haynes said she was relishing her second chance at international level, with the chance to wear the Baggy Green once again – and in a historic day-night Test, no less – something she had barely dared dream about during her time on the international sidelines.

"I honestly didn't think I'd have opportunity to wear it again. We don't get the opportunity to play Test cricket very often," she said.

"This multi-format series is great to be part of, because you have to be best team across three formats of game."

With a little over a month remaining before the start of the Ashes, Haynes said the Australian camp had put the disappointment of their World Cup semi-final defeat behind them.

"It was nice to have a little bit of a break after the World Cup, it was a pretty devastating way to finish it.

"Now we've debriefed, we know what we want to work on, what we want to improve on and we know the direction we want to head in.

"It's been a really position time and now everyone is just looking forward to playing domestic cricket and then getting back into the camp for the Ashes."

Commonwealth Bank Women's Ashes

Schedule

First ODI Allan Border Field, October 22

Brisbane Charity Partner: Lord Mayor's Charitable Trust

Second ODI Coffs International Stadium, October 26

Third ODI Coffs International Stadium, October 29

Coffs Junior Cricket Association Partners: Coffs Harbour District JCA, Nambucca Bellingen JCA, and Clarence River JCA

Day-Night Test North Sydney Oval, November 9-12

First T20 North Sydney Oval, November 17

North Sydney Charity Partner: McGrath Foundation

Second T20 Manuka Oval, November 19

Third T20 Manuka Oval, November 21

Canberra Charity Partner: Lord's Taverners ACT