Lessons for Villani after Windies tour omission

Matthew Mott says Elyse Villani can force her way back into the Australian squad for next year’s T20 World Cup on home soil – but it will need to be as a top-order batter.

Mott conceded Villani had been unlucky to lose her place in the national squad for the upcoming limited-overs tour of the West Indies announced on Friday, after the 29-year-old was restricted to carrying the drinks throughout the seven-match, multi-format Ashes in England last month.

Having started her 99-match international career as an opener, Villani is no longer a first-choice member of the Australian one-day side, and has been pushed into the middle-order of the T20 side through the last two years, largely due to the form of Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney at the top.

With the outstanding T20 batting form of Ellyse Perry demanding a shift up from the No.7 position the superstar allrounder occupied late last year, it was the Victorian who found herself on the outer for the T20 leg of the Ashes late last month.

Now, while Australia are touring the West Indies through September, Villani – Australia’s third-most prolific run-scorer in the 20-over format – will instead set her sights on scoring up a storm for Victoria in the 50-over Women’s National Cricket League and in her first season for Melbourne Stars in the Rebel WBBL.

"She’s a bit unlucky, Elyse, her numbers stack up well but we’re looking for allrounders in that middle-order," Mott said in Sydney on Friday.

"With the form of Ellyse Perry moving (her) up … that’s squeezed Elyse out of that top (five).

"From six, seven onwards we’re looking for allrounders and people to play a role in the middle-order where they can score maybe 14 or 15 runs off 10 balls.

"She was squeezed out there but I think the first round of the WNCL is a great opportunity for her to go back and reinvent herself at the top of the order and push her case there.

"She’s really clear on what she needs to do and she’s reacted well to the disappointment of missing out."

The preference for allrounders in the middle-order came to the fore in the Ashes when Villani’s position as a specialist bat in the T20 XI was replaced with a bonus bowling option. Now, young Western Australia allrounder Heather Graham is a chance to debut in the Caribbean after earning her first international call-up.

"I think certainly in T20s we want the nucleus of our batting in the top five to be solid players, but from six onwards we want some genuine allrounders as well," Mott said.

Graham was named Domestic Player of the Year at the Australian Cricket Awards in February and is part of the National Performance Squad.

She’s one of two uncapped players in the touring party, alongside veteran spin-bowling allrounder Erin Burns. Burns has been brought into the group in place of Sophie Molineux who is sitting out the tour to concentrate on fully rehabilitating the shoulder she had surgery on in February.

It’s a long-awaited call-up for the 31-year-old from NSW, who has plied her trade in Tasmania and the ACT throughout the last decade while also juggling her job as a physiotherapist.

"It’s a real lightbulb moment for everyone in the competition that if you perform and do well, you’ll be rewarded," Mott said.

"I think it’s a perfect reward for (Burns). She’s done a great job at the Sydney Sixers in the last couple of years whether with bat, ball or in the field."

Australia will depart for the Caribbean next week, with the first ODI to be played in Antigua on September 5.