How Aussies vetted unknown World Cup rivals

Across the past two days, Australia vice-captain Rachael Haynes has been on a mission: to uncover every piece of information she can possibly find on Bangladesh allrounder Jahanara Alam.

These days, thanks to an increasingly busy international schedule and the arrival of domestic leagues including the Rebel WBBL, there are few secrets in the women’s game and players tend to know each other inside and out.

Not so Australia’s next T20 World Cup opponent.

They have never played Bangladesh in any format of the game, with Thursday night’s meeting under lights at Manuka Oval to mark history.

The ninth-ranked Tigresses have been at the past three T20 World Cups prior to this one, but never fallen in Australia’s group.

Nor have they never appeared at an ODI World Cup, and none of their players have been part of the Big Bash.

It has left Australia’s analyst Sunny Kaliyar, the coaching staff and the players with far more than the usual amount of homework to do in order to prepare for the group stage match – and Australia cannot afford a slip up, with their chances of advancing to the tournament semi-finals on the line.

The Australian brains trust kept a close eye on Bangladesh’s tournament opener against India in Perth on Monday night, while vision has been obtained both from their five-run warm-up game win over Pakistan and from their successful campaign during last year’s World Cup qualifying event in Scotland.

Overall, the approach has not differed from how the Australians would prepare for any opponent – it’s simply that this time, they are starting from scratch.

"The good thing about this day and age is there pretty much is vision of every player in world cricket," Haynes told cricket.com.au.

"It shows how much more cricket we’re playing and how much more closely people are analysing the game."

As per Australia’s usual pre-game approach, each member of the 15-player squad was assigned a Bangladeshi opponent to analyse, before presenting their findings at the team meeting on Wednesday evening.

In the eyes of Australia assistant coach Ben Sawyer, giving players greater responsibility and ownership over their planning in recent years has been a successful move.

"The emphasis is on the players to have a look at it as well," Sawyer told cricket.com.au.

"That’s the way we approach every team and this time is no different, but it is a little harder finding (information on Bangladesh).

"Each of the girls reports back on a player and the coaches jump in on top of that and add their thoughts.

"The best part about it is that it’s not just then the coaches’ opinions, the players do it and I think they buy into it a little more and I think they remember the plans a little better because they’ve come up with a lot of it themselves."

For Haynes, analysing Jahanara meant looking closely at every aspect of her game as Bangladesh’s main strike weapon with the ball, as well as her middle-order batting.

As you would expect, the thorough investigation took in everything from thoroughly assessing her stock ball and the approach she takes to each of her variations, to her strike rate with the bat against different types of bowlers.

"Personally, as a player, I then think about what my strengths are and how I can use it to counteract against what they do," Haynes explained.

"If someone is exceptionally good at taking the pace off the ball, then I think about good scoring options against that player, can you change where you bat in the crease, can you target a particular area of the ground.

"It does sound like a lot of work, but the more you play against certain opposition the easier that becomes."

Image Id: 4FD2326C4C884959AEE4A37420AF47C7 Image Caption: Sawyer (right) and Shelley Nitschke discussing tactics with Australia fast bowlers Megan Schutt and Tayla Vlaeminck // Cricket Network

For bowling coach Sawyer, preparing to play an unfamiliar opponent is like figuring out a puzzle – searching the footage and statistics for something that could give one of his bowlers an edge.

In Bangladesh’s case, he has identified their batting line-ups’ strength against spin – something not unexpected from a subcontinent nation – and while he would not divulge any details, he has a few ideas for Thursday.

"I can only speak for myself, but you get to look at different players and see if there is something you can find that might help you in the game (that’s exciting)," he said.

"A lot of the players we come up against now, we’ve got good plans against them because we play them so much.

"I think we can throw some different things at Bangladesh that we’ve got in our team, which India didn’t."

In Haynes’ eyes, the fact Australia head into tomorrow’s game with no previous experience could in some ways be a bonus, particularly as they look to build momentum after a shaky start to the tournament.

"When you come up against a team you don’t know as well … it’s good to look at the vision and it’s good to have an idea of what people do, but when you don’t know them, you can’t have too many preconceived ideas," she said.

"It comes back to just watching the ball and just playing what you see, so in some respects that makes it a little bit easier in some respects."

2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Erin Burns, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham

February 21:India won by 17 runs

February 24: Australia won by five wickets

February 27: Australia v Bangladesh, Manuka Oval 

March 2: Australia v New Zealand, Junction Oval

March 5: Semi-final 1 & Semi-final 2, SCG

March 8: Final, MCG

For a full list of all World Cup fixtures, click HERE

* All matches will be broadcast on Fox Cricket and Kayo, while Australia’s matches will also be broadcast on the Nine Network