Victorian’s Victorious return to Australian set up
TAYLA Vlaeminck’s international career is getting a reboot, after she was named in the Australian squad for next month’s tour of Bangladesh.
She is one of two inclusions for the multi format white ball tour, with Victorian teammate Sophie Molineux the second.
This return has been a long time coming for Vlaeminck, who has had a horrible run with injuries in recent seasons.
The pair come into the side at the expense of Jess Jonassen and Heather Graham. This continues a pretty luckless run for Jonassen in particular, who has missed out on a number of games in recent months, but this is the first international tour she will miss while fully fit since her debut in 2012.
After only playing the one day portions of several recent series, Alana King finally gets to play both the one day and T20 halves of the series. Grace Harris however will continue to only play the T20s.
The tour doubles as a fact finding mission for the Australians, who will be returning to Bangladesh later this year for the T20 World Cup. This series will be six matches long, but have no confirmed dates yet but as expected to be held between Match 21 and April 4.
National selector Shawn Flegler explained the thinking behind the squad make up.
“We’ve tried to pick a balanced squad with multiple bowling options and, unfortunately for Jess and Heather, they have missed out on this occasion,” Flegler said in a statement.
“While we know both will be disappointed to miss out on selection, they’re exceptional cricketers who are highly valued by our group and we certainly haven’t counted them out of future opportunities.
Australia Squad for Bangladesh series
Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20s only), Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck