Jess Jonassen opens up on wet conditions, reserve day and bowling-friendly surfaces

Australia spinner Jess Jonassen is looking forward to bowling on spin-friendly wickets as the national women's team prepares themselves to play three Tests in the upcoming months. The left-arm spinner is excited about the Women’s Ashes next month and a one-off Test against India after Christmas. 

The 30-year-old has played four Tests in her career so far, all against England, where she’s picked six wickets. Talking about the opportunity to play Test cricket, Jonassen said that the women’s team love to play the longest format of the game. She further expressed her delight at the addition of the extra day in the Women’s Ashes Test to get a result if the weather interrupts the game on any day.

"We always love having the opportunity to play Test match cricket. It's been few and far between over the years. I think being able to play that extra day (in the Ashes Test) is something we've been crying out for a little bit. To have that added dynamic to it, particularly in the UK, when there's a little bit of wet weather around here and there, it'd be nice to have the opportunity to force more results,” Jonassen was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Jonassen further shared her excitement about getting to play a Test match in India, where she will be getting spin-friendly conditions.

"(And) as a spin bowler, I'm really looking forward to playing a Test match (in India). It'll be a little bit of an unknown, but from watching a lot of the men's Tests over there, I think it'll be quite heavily spin dominant, which I'm really looking forward to,” she added.

Notably, the Australian women’s team has only toured India once for a Test series way back in 1984, where all four Tests ended in a draw. Later on, India toured Australia for a three-match Test series in 1990-91 and were beaten 2-0. Following that, India played two more one-off Tests down under; they ended up losing in Adelaide in 2006 and drew the game in September 2021.

Jonassen approaching 200 matches for Australia across formats

Meanwhile, Jonassen has a chance of completing 200 matches for Australia across all formats in the upcoming home summer. Talking about the approaching milestone she said that she wants to enjoy her cricket as long as she can. She further said that she wants to prioritise playing international cricket rather than domestic T20 leagues.

"(I want) to keep enjoying my cricket for as long as I can. There's domestic competitions that are now popping up globally for the women's game (and if you) keep trying to stay fresh, there's so many opportunities out there to play cricket. But for me, it's (about) trying to represent my country for as long as I can, and enjoying it along the way,” she added.