Any team that has had Meg Lanning in their side will miss her when she's not there: Shelly Nitschke

Australia’s loss against England in the recently concluded T20I series of the Women’s Ashes forced the management to ponder upon some questions. The Women in Yellow were handed their first defeat in a T20I series since 2017 as England defeated them at Lord’s on July 8 to script a historic win and keep their Ashes hopes alive.

The two sides will be playing a three-match ODI series next, but after the 1-2 loss in the 20-over series, Australian head coach Shelley Nitschke acknowledged that the team was missing their absent skipper Meg Lanning. Following the third T20I on Saturday, Nitschke noted the squad was missing Lanning but that they still had the players to turn the tide of the Ashes series in their favour.

Meg Lanning pulled out of the Women’s Ashes owing to medical reasons just a few days before the one-off Test between the two sides. The 31-year-old had taken a six-month mental health hiatus before getting back on the field in January 2023 ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup 2023, where he led the team to their record-extending sixth title win.

“She's one of the best players in the world and she's been in our cycle a long time, so we were definitely going to miss her. Any team that has had Meg Lanning in their side will miss her when she's not there. She's always made a lot of runs over here. So we've certainly missed her, but I still think we have the team and good depth to cover,” Shelly said in the post-match press conference.

We're confident that we can swing the momentum back our way: Shelly

Alyssa Healy, the stand-in captain in Lanning’s absence, has done a good job as she led the side to a historic victory in the one-off Women’s Ashes Test. In what was the first-ever five-day Test in the history of women’s cricket, Healy and Co. won the game by 89 runs on the fifth day at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.

They were riding high on confidence as they clinched a victory in the first T20I of the three-match series, but back-to-back defeats have now raised questions. Australia have been undefeated in 15 straight ODIs, and in order to maintain the streak, Nitschke indicated that the team might witness some changes in the playing combination for the ODI series which commences on July 12, in Bristol.

“Potentially, yeah. That's something we'll look at over the next couple of days. We'll have a look at what's our best side for the format and the conditions in Bristol. They might have the momentum but that can change pretty quickly. We're confident that we can swing the momentum back our way,” Shelly added.