From terrorising teammates in the nets to tormenting India, that’s the challenge for Aussie strike bowling weapon Tayla Vlaeminck when she returns from injury.
Here comes the wild thing.
One of the quickest bowlers in women’s cricket, Tayla Vlaeminck is set to be rushed back into Australia’s T20 side for its match against India on Thursday.
The 22-year-old has missed the first three one-day internationals and the Test match against India with a foot injury.
But with Australia’s existing pace bowlers needing a rest after some long days in the field against India, coach Matthew Mott confirmed a fit Vlaeminck was now in the mix.
“We’re very excited to bring back Tayla in the T20s, she’s been terrorising all the extra players in the nets at the moment,” Mott said.
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“She’s ready to go.
“It was very close for this Test match, and as it turns out (with Lanning deciding to bowl), she would have had to bowl three days in a row for us, and that would have been an incredibly high risk for her on the number of overs she’s got under her belt.
“But she’s fit and firing and ready to go, definitely.”
In the absence of Megan Schutt, who withdrew from the series to be with her wife and newborn child, a fully fit Vlaeminck is shaping up as a game changer for Meg Lanning’s side for the three final T20 matches starting on Thursday.
Vlaeminck’s absence from the series thus far helped open the door for teenage bowlers Darcie Brown, Stella Campbell and Annabel Sutherland to make their Test debuts, and added further depth to the Aussie pace attack.
However, Vlaeminck is the ace up the sleeve. With her noted pace — she’s been clocked bowling at speeds of more than 120km/h — she is ready to lead the way after recovering from a stress fracture that had her foot in a moon boot 18 months ago.
“I’d love to be able to open the bowling,” Vlaeminck said.
“Opening the bowling for Australia is why I play cricket and why I train and why I want to keep doing rehab and that’s the dream.
“But we’ve got so many bowlers in our squad at the moment and everyone does different things, so we’ll have a lot of different options to play.”
With an Ashes series in January and an ODI World Cup in New Zealand in March, Mott has been deliberately cautious with Vlaeminck’s return to playing knowing just how crucial she will be for Australia in the months ahead.
“We’re excited about what she’s going to do,” Mott said leading into the India series.
“We’re going to manage her (Vlaeminck) well, we’ve got a huge 18 months for her as a young fast bowler and we know the impact that she can have when she plays.”
Originally published as Australia v India cricket: Latest news as women clash in T20s
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