Need to remind myself that I am potentially playing The Ashes: Australia's Phoebe Litchfield
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ustralian batter Phoebe Litchfield admitted that she is yet to digest the fact that she is going to represent her country in The Ashes series against England, but has to keep reminding herself.
"I still feel like I am going to watch the Ashes, I need to remind myself that I am potentially playing it," said Litchfield as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
As per ESPNCricinfo, back in 2019, a 16-year-old Litchfield went viral while playing elegant cover drives in New South Wales in nets. Later that year, she got to make her debut for NSW in the Women's National Cricket League (WNCL) and later her Big Bash League (BBL) debut for Sydney Thunder, scoring a half-century in her second game.
She has played three ODIs so far, scoring 154 runs at an average of 154.00, with two half-centuries and best score of 78*. She has also played a couple of T20Is, scoring 11 runs in one inning.
Now she could get to play in the one-off Ashes Test, from June 22 onwards.
Her saying "playing potentially" is understandable as she does not want to jump ahead of selection calls, but it would not be a surprise if she gets her Australian Test cap next week in Nottingham.
The retirement of Rachael Haynes and withdrawal of Meg Lanning made a couple of vacancies in the top order. Alyssa Healy also wants to move down the order to manage her workload. Everything points to this youngster opening the batting, as she did during the warm-up match against England A.
"I am so excited, can't put it into words. The T20 tour to India and the Pakistan series here were amazing highlights but think there is an added layer to the Ashes. If the opportunity to open arises, I will definitely grab it. It is probably the best position," said Litchfield.
Australian stand-in Healy said about her batting approach, "Just fearless, we speak about that in our white-ball cricket, and she embodies that."
She worked with her father Andrew at home in Orange to perfect her technique as she could not travel to Sydney 250 km away.
"It started when I just picked up a bat and it was probably very backyard cricket, then as I progressed, he told me where my front elbow should go and sort of progressed from there. Would not say it is a perfect technique, but people have said it looks alright," said Litchfield.
Although Litchfield played in a two-day men's competition in Orange, there is no multi-day cricket in the domestic women's game in Australia, and there is not in England either.
She says, "To be fair, our team wasn't that good, so we didn't last the full day most times," he said.
As a specialist hitter who is making a name for himself in Australian cricket, Litchfield is somewhat of an anomaly. Multi-discipline cricketers can thrive in the women's game since white-ball cricket predominates. Even though Beth Mooney plays as a specialist hitter, Litchfield from the batting group may be the only member of the Australian XI for the England tour who does not have a back-up. Litchfield is still used as a backup wicketkeeper but has never been forced to change who she is.
"I began as a bowler but bowled off the wrong foot and as soon as I went down to training sessions, they were like you cannot bowl like that because you will get an injury. So, I stopped bowling early on. I was a keeper, still have that as a secondary skill, but for the time, just want to focus on being the best fielder I can be and obviously, the batting," said Litchfield.
Litchfield's game has evolved quite a bit in the last 12 months, as she has added power to their T20 Cricket. In the last season, she averaged 49.87 in the WNCL which also included a maiden century. Lithfield wants to be as versatile as possible, though she may not feature in the T20I part of multi-format Ashes.
"Being a full-time cricketer, I can work on my game all the time. I have been in the nets working hard on different shots and just being able to work hard on the craft of batting. There is a lot to work on both the power game and just mentally. Your cover drive can be good, but out in the middle, a lot can happen and it's about weathering that," said Litchfield.
"You cannot look perfect all the time; not that I want to look perfect but leading into one-day cricket and the [Ashes] practice matches, I have been working hard on the technique because that is what gets found out, especially over in England with the swinging ball."
For her, getting to bat an entire day during a Test seems exciting.
"I am so keen. Now that I have got an added appreciation for batting and really enjoying it, I am excited at the prospect of batting all day. Whether my mind can do it, we will see, but keen to give it a crack," she concluded.
Australia squad Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham
England Test squad Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver-Brunt (vc), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Issy Wong, Danielle Wyatt.
✔️ Need to remind myself that I am potentially playing The Ashes: Australia's Phoebe Litchfield
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