Lapses could be costly in World T20

The cut-throat nature of Twenty20 cricket hasn’t been lost on tournament favourites Australia and England as they look to leave nothing to chance in this month’s World T20 in the Caribbean.

Australia arrived in the South American nation of Guyana on Sunday and had their first look at Providence Stadium on Monday when they were put through their paces in hot and humid conditions.

Meg Lanning’s team play South Africa in a warm-up at the same venue on Tuesday ahead of their tournament opener against Pakistan on Friday, while Guyana is merely a pit-stop for Heather Knight’s England, who will meet India in a practice game on Wednesday before relocating to St Lucia, their home for the group stage.

Having never played in Guyana before, Lanning stressed the importance of her players making use of the coming days to adjust to conditions that are expected to be low and slow.

“There’s no doubt we’ll have the adjust, so the good thing is we’ve got one practice game and three training sessions to get used to that,” Lanning said on Monday.

“Everyone is in the same boat. We’ve got to be able to adapt pretty quickly and make sure we’re playing accordingly but over last year we’ve done that really well, so we think if the conditions are really different we’ll still be able to adjust.”

There’s little room for error in a group stage that will see Australia play Pakistan, Ireland, New Zealand and India, with the latter two teams likely to be the Southern Stars’ fiercest competition for the two semi-final berths.

Australia are the top-ranked team in the format and come into the tournament on a run of nine successive T20I victories, but Lanning is aware that will mean little if they slip up come tournament time.

“It’s massive, T20 cricket can change in one ball and it’s a pretty tough group, as is the other one, so we can’t afford to let our guard down for even 10 to 15 minutes or we might find ourselves dropping a game we can’t afford to do,” the Australian captain said.

“But I think that’s the exciting thing about World Cup formats and tournament play, you need to be on all the time and really focused, so we’re looking forward to that challenge.”

Knight echoed Lanning’s thoughts, knowing her team – the reigning 50-over World Cup champions - can’t take anything for granted in their own group matches against West Indies, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“Working out what a good score is very quickly and being able to adapt (is a priority),” Knight said.

“T20 is a very fast-paced game and a bad 10 to 15 minutes can lose you a game.

“Our warm-up is a last chance for players to push for selection, but we’re pretty much set on our team, we’ve probably got about 12 it’s that last final push for the players to put their names forward.”

Australia’s warm-up against South Africa will kick off at 4pm Tuesday local time (Wednesday 7am AEDT).

Once the tournament proper gets underway, Fox Sports will broadcast every match of the Women’s World T20, while the Nine Network will televise Australia’s matches.

2018 ICC Women's World T20  

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy (wk), Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Elyse Villani, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

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