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Bolton backs new aggressive approach

Australian opener vows to continue new aggressive mindset from Stars' practice match into India series

A new Nicole Bolton could be unleashed on India when Australia begin their one-day international campaign on Monday, with the opener vowing to continue the aggressive approach she took into Tuesday’s first warm-up game.

The Western Australian isn’t generally known for making blazing starts with the bat and after 41 ODIs for her country, her 43.52 average is accompanied by a strike rate of 71.81.

On Tuesday, she left the more aggressive Alyssa Healy in her wake as she powered her way to 58 from 38 deliveries, finding the boundary 10 times and clearing it once.

Speaking on Friday after Australia’s arrival in Vadodara, Bolton revealed she hadn’t simply been taking advantage of an inexperienced India A attack – rather, it was a calculated effort to break the shackles and find another gear in her batting.

“It was a bit different to how I normally go about my business, but I’m committed to what we’re speaking about as a batting group, about being fearless,” Bolton said.

“I think sometimes we’ve been guilty of leaving a bit in the tank and coasting through.

“We now know teams are improving and India are a really good side, so we have to be playing better than 80 per cent and part of that is me taking control of my batting and being more positive and showing a bit more intent.”

Bolton’s confidence has been boosted by a strong Rebel WBBL campaign for the Scorchers, where her 482 runs – the third highest in the competition – came at a strike rate of 101.47, up from 93.91 in WBBL|02.

Now, she’s hoping to translate that for into the one-day arena in the three-match series against India.

“I think I’ve maybe been in first gear a bit in my one-day cricket,” she said. “I’m always looking for ways to challenge myself and create a few more opportunities.

“I’m coming off a WBBL where I leant a bit more about my game and what strengths I can add to taking on the bowlers.

“To be able to when I got out there in a non-threatening environment in a practice game and do that was really positive and hopefully if I get the opportunity I can do it again against India.”

Brilliant Bolton finishes with a bang

Australia as a group have spoken about the need to be more fearless when batting, and for the top order to have faith that their deep batting line-up – which sees the likes of Jess Jonassen and Ashleigh Gardner batting in the lower order – can get the job done if things go awry at the top of the order.

“That really helps with the way we want to play, we’ve spoken a lot about how we want to be a 300 team, so that’s the next level we need to go to and commit to.

“Part of that is being fearless and not thinking about getting out, but playing the way we all know we can play. It’s great we bat all the way down, even the person coming in at 11 can held the bat so gives us a little bit more confidence up the top to play a bit more positive earlier.”

This tour is Bolton’s first in India, and the 29-year-old said she was rapt to be ticking an item off her cricketing bucket list. But with previous experience in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the Western Australian hasn’t headed into completely unfamiliar territory. “The more you expose yourself to different conditions the more it helps, I think Sri Lanka is not too dissimilar to what we’ll face here,” she said.

“India is always a challenge as it’s a bit slower and there’s more turn, which is why the practice games on these wickets were crucial.”

Australia relocated to the city of Vadodara in Gujarat on Friday and they’ll have two days to familiarise themselves with Reliance Stadium before

Monday’s opening ODI of the Commonwealth Bank Tour of India.

ICC Women’s Championship points will be on offer in the three-match ODI series, which the top four teams at the end of the Championship earning automatic qualification for the 2021 World Cup.

Cricket.com.au will provide news, scores, highlights and behind-the-scenes coverage from on the ground in India, while Fox Sports will broadcast all three ODIs and the T20I tri-series that will follow live.

Commonwealth Bank Tour of India

Australia ODI squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicole Bolton, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Belinda Vakarewa, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

Australia T20 squad: Meg Lanning (c), Rachael Haynes (vc), Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Delissa Kimmince, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Naomi Stalenberg, Elyse Villani, Amanda-Jade Wellington

India ODI squad: Mithali Raj (Captain), Harmanpreet Kaur (vice-captain), Smriti Mandhana, Punam Raut, Jemimah Rodrigues, Veda Krishnamurthy, Mona Meshram, Sushma Verma, Ekta Bisht, Poonam Yadav, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Shikha Pandey, Sukanya Parida, Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma

England T20I squad: Heather Knight (c), Tammy Beaumont, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophie Ecclestone, Tash Farrant, Katie George, Jenny Gunn, Alex Hartley, Danielle Hazell, Amy Jones, Anya Shrubsole, Bryony Smith, Nat Sciver, Fran Wilson, Danni Wyatt

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by 321 runs. Report

Warm-up match Australia beat India A by seven wickets. Report

ODI series

First ODI Reliance Stadium, Vadodara, March 12

Second ODI Reliance Stadium, Vadodara, March 15

Third ODI Reliance Stadium, Vadodara, March 18

T20I tri-series

First T20I Australia v India, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 22

Second T20I Australia v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 23

Third T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 25

Fourth T20I Australia v India, Brabourne Stadium, March 26

Fifth T20I Australia v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 28

Sixth T20I India v England, Brabourne Stadium, March 29

Final Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai, March 31