The Story
Australian women are waiting to get better of world champions England in the upcoming historic Ashes contest, vice-captain of the Australian team, Alex Blackwell has conceded in a recent interview.
She has revealed that the devastating ouster from the World Cup will not hamper their cause of demolishing their arch rivals at home later this year.
Six-time winners Australia were kicked out of the semi-finals of last month’s World Cup after their shock defeat at the hands of India, denying them a chance to retain their trophy which England won eventually.
Unaffected and Raring to Go!
The unsuccessful campaign, however, has had very little effect on their stature, as they still reign as the world No. 1 team in the ODIs. They will begin as favourites when the yearly Ashes tradition is revived against England in the multi-format tour this summer.
The series will include three one-day matches and three Twenty20s in addition to the first ever Ashes day-night Test.
“We’re still ranked number one in the world. Obviously, it’s devastating that we didn’t win a World Cup recently but it was a great tournament and I’ve been a part of many World Cups and it was the best yet,” Blackwell said on Thursday at North Sydney Oval.
“Although you can’t always win them it was something that was very enjoyable to be a part of and cricket all around the world is getting better for women.
“It’s going to be the same when you see us play England. I’m confident we can win this Ashes and retain them.”
No Difficulties with the Pink Ball
While the men have given a feedback which suggests that playing under the lights with the pink ball makes batting very difficult, Blackwell and teammate Rachael Haynes have stated that with prior experience of playing a day game with the different-coloured ball, they won’t have many problems.
“I’ve been a part of an ODI for Australia with a pink ball, it didn’t seem to impact the game too much but it was in the day time,” Blackwell said.
“It’s a slightly different challenge, no doubt we’ll be doing a lot of practice with the pink ball under lights prior to the match, but we are just really embracing the whole event.
“It’s going to be a historic occasion and I encourage a lot of the locals to get down here at North Sydney Oval and pack out this house and make it a great event for everyone.”