Australia are one of the best in recent times who have recently won their record-fifth T20 World Cup title. However, they have shifted their focus towards the upcoming 50-over World Cup. The World Cup is scheduled to take place in New Zealand in 2021 and Nicola Carey is hopeful that they will get some games as well.
They are the back-to-back champions in the T20 format. Their depth makes them arguably a better one-day team as well. Although they have lost the 2017 semi-final to India, this time they would leave no stone unturned. While the tournament is still ten months away, like other sporting events, this is also uncertain amid this crunch situation.
With the world has been fighting against the global pandemic novel coronavirus, the restriction has also imposed on travel. It is still unknown when the crowd will return to sports events. Australia cancelled their tour to South Africa last month. The COVID-19 has affected more than 1 million people across the globe so far.
There remain some chances that Cricket Australia start their domestic season as per the schedule. But there is a question mark on international tours. Even the ICC Women’s World Cup Qualifiers also looks bleak in July in Sri Lanka. However, they have the Women’s National Cricket League (WNCL) and Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). Alongside these, the scheduled visits by New Zealand and India before the World Cup are there.
“It’s quite a way away, beginning of next year, so hopefully we can get some sort of season domestically and internationally as well,” Australia allrounder Nicola Carey said. “I’d imagine if we can’t get international teams out here at the back end of the season, the World Cup may be difficult to have but I’m not really sure what’s happening with all the travel restrictions. But it’s a fair way away, so hopefully, things improve and we can get some games in before then.”
“We’d like to be playing as many games as we can leading into a tournament like a World Cup and this is no different but it’s a bit of the unknown, not really sure what will happen even when we go back for pre-season… but we also understand there are bigger things at play here and we’ll just have to wait and see,” she again added.
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In 2017 World Cup, the hosts England won the title by defeating India by 9 runs. Australia failed to reach the final because of Harmanpreet Kaur’s heroics – her stunning 171* at Derby. Since then they have made a world record of 18 wins in a row over the last two years. They have lost only one game. As the focus was on the T20 World Cup, they last played in ODIs in early October last year.
“Being a T20 World Cup year there was a lot of emphasis on the T20 stuff. We still played 50-over cricket so when we were in 50-over mode we were really focused on that. Naturally, if we are going into a 50-over World Cup that becomes quite important and there will be a massive focus, especially in training camps when you do the scenario-based things, [but] what that looks like I’m not sure,” shared Nicola Carey.
Carey has played five of their six matches at the T20 World Cup. Moreover, she is signed up for the new Hundred tournament in England. But it is now on the verge of being pushed back a year. But the last few weeks for her was busy since she has moved into the new house in Tasmania. Although she thought to go to New South Wales to spend time with her family. She has the company of housemates and Hobart Hurricanes team-mates Maisy Gibson and Belinda Vakarewa.
“A different format, it got a lot of the girls interested and a lot of us were hoping to go away for it,” she explained. “It would have been nice to play in different conditions, I’m not sure what’s happening with that but hopefully it gets going one day.”
“It’s really nice to have the leave period but by the end of it you are chomping at the bit to get back into training and playing games. You missing being around the girls, you get sick of them on tour but when you are apart you miss them. No doubt everyone will be hoping the season can go ahead,” Nicola Carey shared.
“It’s sort of growing on me Tasmania, I haven’t actually spent a heap of time here consecutively over the last 12 months since I’ve been here so it’s actually been nice to spend some time here and get the place set up,” Carey told. “I’ve been telling everyone it doesn’t rain too much down here, but it’s raining at the moment and it’s actually rained quite a bit the last two days but it’s not too bad, it’s pretty good down here.”
“We had a really hectic international schedule last season but I’m really enjoying my time in Tassie. I really love the coaching down here, I do a lot of batting stuff with Dan Marsh who has been really good and Salliann Briggs who’s got some pretty big raps around her. I’m really enjoying my time down here and I’m tipping I’ll spend more of my pre-season down here this season so I’m looking forward on working on more stuff more consistently with these guys,” told the all-rounder.
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Nicola Carey joined the Hobart Hurricanes in WBBL last season. There she scored 267 runs at an average of 24 and took 13 wickets at 28.76. The team finished seventh with only four wins where the all-rounder admitted that her batting could have been better.
“It was an interesting season for us,” Carey said. “We got so close in so many games and it always went the other way a little bit. I don’t think we were too far off, I think our bowling unit was pretty good. I thought Belinda Vakarewa had an outstanding season in both WNCL and T20 cricket for that matter and I guess our batting just didn’t click.”
“I don’t think we scored enough runs and our top order, including myself, needed to do a little bit more so if we could work on that and put it all together, I’m sure we could win some more games next season,” she further added.
Nicola Carey made her international debut in 2018, despite being a member both the 2012 and 2018 squads. She referred to the World Cup final as the day as the best in her career. She said that she’s now a better player.
“Obviously a fair bit has gone on around the world with the whole coronavirus thing but I was looking back at the calendar the other day and I couldn’t believe it was nearly four or so weeks ago. Time has been flying since that day but it was a pretty special day and I’m not sure if I’ll top that again in my career. I can’t believe it was so long ago now,” she expressed.
“I sat on the sidelines for a lot of T20 cricket and saw the girls go about their business and obviously it’s quite a successful team and hard to crack into. It gives me plenty of confidence leading into the next season, who knows what that holds but hopefully we’ll get some cricket and hopefully I’ll stick around in the team for a bit longer,” Nicola Carey concluded.
