Heat acclimation in focus as Australia women face White Ferns at home

The Australian women are set to welcome New Zealand for a three-match T20I series in Queensland right before departing for the T20 World Cup in the UAE. 

The three T20Is will serve as a good warmup for both the trans-Tasman sides in Mackay and Brisbane (the two venues) as they’ll get time under the sun to acclimate themselves to hot conditions. Australia, especially, haven’t had any international series since the limited overs tour of Bangladesh in March and April. 

Australia were dominant in Bangladesh, whitewashing the home side. However, more importantly, they gained the know how of the conditions which would have come in use had the World Cup been held in Bangladesh. 

“I think it's really disappointing not to go to Bangladesh," Australian batter Phoebe Litchfield said prior to the series against the White Ferns.

"I know how much they were looking forward to it. But I think Dubai offers as much as it can, and we're looking forward to it. I was having a look at a few temperatures there. It's going to be 37 [degrees Celsius] feels like 45 kind of thing.”

However, she feels that the conditions in the UAE will not be very different from what they would have encountered in Bangladesh, and the team is accustomed to the heat having played most of their cricket in hot Australian summers. 

“It's going to be hot. Not too dissimilar to Bangladesh," Litchfield said.

"So our preparation continues the same, and we're probably going to do some heat acclimation over the next sort of week and a half to get ready. But I think being Australian, we're really suited to hot weather, so hopefully it won't be too bad.”

While the first two T20Is will be played in Mackay on September 19 (Thursday) and 22 (Sunday), the third will be played on September 24 (Tuesday) in Brisbane. After the series, both the teams will travel to UAE on September 25 for the T20 World Cup that’s starting on October 3 in the gulf nation. 

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