Women’s T20 World Cup: Phoebe Litchfield and Grace Harris miss warm-up as Australia fears injury

Phoebe Litchfield and Grace Harris will not be part of Australia’s warm-up matches for the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup. The 21-year-old Litchfield recently complained of pain in her groin and her availability will be called upon for the first group match. taken in due course.

Harris, 31, on the other hand, has resumed training after suffering a problem during training, Cricket Australia (CA) said in a statement. Whether she will be fully fit for Australia’s group matches remains to be seen.

Litchfield was in good form after she scored a match-winning 64 against New Zealand in the three-match T20I series against New Zealand. Back in 2023, Litchfield also achieved the fastest fifty in the Women’s T20Is from 18 balls, equaling Sophie Devine’s record.

Harris, on the other hand, is one of the cleanest strikers of the cricket ball, with 474 runs from 29 innings at a strike-rate of 164.01.

If Litchfield and Harris don’t get fit, Australia has the required firepower in the middle order. Ellyse Perry, Georgia Wareham, Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland and Ash Gardner lend strength to their batting order.

Australia’s first warm-up match is against Heather Knight’s England on September 29, followed by their other practice match on October 1 against the West Indies at the Sevens Stadium in Dubai

Alyssa Healy’s women will take on Chamari Athapaththu’s Sri Lanka at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday, October 5. They will also face India, New Zealand and Pakistan in the group stage.

Australia are the most successful team in the T20 World Cup and have also won the title three times in a row in 2018, 2020 and 2023. Last time they defeated South Africa in the final under the leadership of Meg Lanning, who retired. international cricket last year.