Vlaeminck has been building up nicely; certainly glad she’s on my side, says McGrath

New Delhi: After Tayla Vlaeminck bowled a ferocious spell of 1-6 from her four overs as Australia ‘A’ got a 3-0 T20 series sweep against India ‘A’, skipper Tahlia McGrath said the tearaway fast-bowler is building up nicely and is very glad to have her in the team.

Tayla is building up to play a World Cup match for Australia, especially with this year’s T20 World Cup happening in October. A serious foot injury led to her being ruled out of the eve of the Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020 at home, as well as miss Australia’s victorious campaigns in the 2022 Women’s ODI World Cup, 2022 Commonwealth Games and 2023 Women’s T20 World Cup.

“It's scary how well she's bowling. I faced her in the nets this morning and was terrified. She was pretty nervous before game one. It's the first time she's, well, in a long time, she's strung a full pre-season together and gone out there ready game one. Then, in our third T20 was she was almost unplayable and she's been building really nicely.”

“She spent a lot of time in the preseason up here in Brisbane bowling on turf and, working with our pace bowling coach, Scott Prestwidge. She’s showed her class, like I said, was virtually unplayable and just relentless with the lines and lengths she was bowling. So certainly glad she's on my side because she's looking really good and is going to be a really important player for Australia moving forward,” said Tahlia in a virtual interaction.

Tahlia, the fast-bowling all-rounder, got a nice build-up to a busy cricketing schedule with the T20 series win over India ‘A’, including a 22-ball fifty in third game at the Allan Border Field. “I've had a really nice pre-season, been able to go away, be refreshed, come back, work on my game a bit and just spend a bit of time in the middle, which has been really nice.”

“It's a really big season coming up. So just to get out there, get some runs on the board and get my confidence up was the main thing and really happy with to be able to contribute to some wins in games two and three and happy with how my pre-season shaped up.”

Though she didn’t bowl much due to tons of bowling options in Australia ‘A’ team, Tahlia promised about bowling more in the three one-dayers starting on Wednesday at Mackay. “We've got a lot of bowlers in this squad, so there's a lot of rotations on who bowls in what games, how many overs. From my point of view, I sometimes need the backing to bowl myself. It's a lot easier to bowl other people rather than myself.”

“But I still love my role, which I play with the ball. The first game I bowled an over in the power play and bowled the last over the game, which I don't do too often. I usually just navigate through the middle. So I'm trying to expose myself to a few different roles with the ball, and I'll certainly play a part in the ODI series with the ball.”

“I'm looking to hone in on my craft in a few of those areas as well. So it's a balancing act. But when you're spoilt for choice with bowlers every game and the hectic schedule in a short time period, we'll rotate, especially the quicks in a few games.”

Tahlia also revealed Australia ‘A’ talks a lot about countering hard-hitting batter Kiran Navgire, her UP Warriorz team-mate at WPL, and who’s been one of the bright spots for India ‘A’ in the ongoing tour.

“She's one that we regularly speak about in our pre and post game reviews. She's a very, very hard player to bowl to, and you only miss by a little bit and you get hit to the boundary. So she had really good innings in that last T20, and we probably got our plans slightly wrong to her.”

“So it's about reassessing and going from there. It's going to be interesting to see what role she plays in the 50-over side, because, when she comes to the crease, it happens like the game moves fast. So, it's going to be interesting to see what role she plays and if we can execute a little bit better against her in the 50 over stuff.”

Tahlia noted she’s also impressed by what she’s seen of Minnu Mani-led India ‘A’ team. “Priya (Punia) is a really good batter and I'm pretty sure she was over here for her last India A-series as well. And then you look at the likes of Meghna Singh is an outstanding bowler and (Saika) Ishaque, great spin bowler."

"I've been really impressed with some of the Indian A-girls. I've come across a lot of them in the WPL before, played with probably four of them. I'm a big fan of Shweta (Sehrawat). I think she's a really good talent and I've loved seeing her over here in Australia. The WPL has fast-tracked the development of many Indian players, and their growth is evident. It's exciting to see how quickly they've adapted and improved."