The Australian ODI squad has arrived in Malaysia and hope to quickly find their feet ahead of Thursday's series opener
Aussies touch down in Kuala Lumpur
Australia have arrived in Kuala Lumpur with their attention firmly on taking maximum points from their one-day international series against Pakistan beginning Thursday.
Meg Lanning’s 14-player ODI squad touched down in Malaysia on Sunday and the Australians had their first look at the Kinrara Academy Oval on Monday, enjoying a light hit out.
While there’s the small matter of an ICC Women’s World T20 tournament looming on the horizon, Australia head coach Matthew Mott said his players are currently simply focused on maintaining their unbeaten ODI record against Pakistan.
Touched down in 🇲🇾! Straight to the nets for the Aussies - what humidity?! 😂💦We're gearing up to play Pakistan in the first of three ODIs on Thursday 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Pa4610q0YI— Australian Women's Cricket Team 🏏 (@SouthernStars) October 15, 2018
The series is part of the ICC Women’s ODI Championship – a four-yearly round-robin competition that determines the teams who automatically qualify for the next one-day World Cup – and Australia have a chance to draw clear on top of the table with a series win over Pakistan.
"The important thing we’ve spoken about is staying in the moment,” Mott said on Monday.
"It’s really important that we don’t think too far ahead in terms of the World T20 which is an obvious trap to fall into.
"This is a big series in its own right, we believe a lot in the ICC Championship and we want to take as many points from these couple of weeks as we can to put ourselves ahead of some of the teams in and around us (on the table).
"It’s vital we concentrate solely on this series and the vibe already is that the players are really determined to do that."
Australia will play a practice match against a local team on Tuesday as they look to quickly adapt to the local conditions – and heat and humidity – ahead of the opening one-dayer on Thursday.
"We had a team meeting this morning and from here it’s about adapting to the conditions,” Mott said on Monday.
"Today really is just about just going through the motions and getting a bit of jetlag out of the way.
"We’ll a bit of fielding (work) at the start, because that’s an area we've identified that we need to tidy up after the last series, where our fielding wasn’t of the standard we demand of each other. So that’s a focus point coming into this series.
“(The practice match) is all about time in the middle and getting back into it.”
Australia wrapped up a T20I series whitewash over New Zealand earlier this month, while they'll also meet Pakistan in three 20-over games later this month ahead of November's World T20, but Mott can see the benefits of a brief jump over to 50-over cricket.
"It comes at a good time for us, because even though we’ve got a lot of batters in form, we didn’t get many balls into the those batters (against New Zealand) who are going to play a big role for us in the middle order in the T20 World Cup," he explained.
"One-day cricket will give that opportunity to a few of them and they’ll have a bit more time to go out and find their feet before they have to go too hard."
CommBank Tour of Malaysia
Australia ODI squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham
Australia T20 & World T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen (subject to fitness), Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham
Pakistan ODI/T20 squad: Javeria Khan (c), Bibi Nahida, Ayesha Zafar, Muneeba Ali Siddiqui, Sidra Amin, Omaima Sohail, Nida Rashid, Sidra Nawaz, Sana Mir, Nashra Sundhu, Anum Amin, Natalia Parvaiz, Aliya Riaz, Diana Baig, Aiman Anwar
October 18: First ODI v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval, Kuala Lumpur
October 20: Second ODI v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval
October 22: Third ODI v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval
October 25: First T20I v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval
October 27: Second T20I v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval
October 29: Third T20I v Pakistan, Kinrara Academy Oval
2018 ICC Women's World T20
November 9: Australia v Pakistan, Province Stadium, Guyana
November 11: Australia v Ireland, Province Stadium
November 13: Australia v New Zealand, Province Stadium
November 17: Australia v India, Province Stadium
November 22: Semi-finals, Sir Vivian Richards Ground, Antigua
November 24: Final, Sir Vivian Richards Ground