Gardner to play aggressively; Vlaeminck braces for surreal experience

Alyssa Healy may be going through a lean patch with the bat, but her team-mate Ashleigh Gardner, like others in the side, believes that it's just a matter of time before she gets back among the runs.

"We play an attacking brand of cricket, especially myself and Midge (Healy), and we don't do so well when we move away from that," said the 22-year-old. "We know we have the backing of our staff and team-mates and when it doesn't come off, we know to still play our natural way. I don't think there's too much pressure, but Midge is itching to score runs and hopefully the World Cup is when she's going to turn things around and start making some runs for herself and the team."

Beth Mooney was Australia's leading run-scorer in the recently-concluded tri-series with 208 runs. She was only behind India's Smriti Mandhana, who scored 216. Gardner was quick to acknowledge this fact and said, "There’s a lot more to come from us with the bat. Beth Mooney has done really well at the top, but the batters around her haven't done amazingly. That's something we can improve on a little bit."

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Australia's squad for the global tournament is rich with allrounders. They have reliable spinners, seamers who have express pace as well as those who rely on accuracy, and batters who can clear any ground. Tayla Vlaeminck, one such tearaway quick, is in the squad and this will be her second T20 World Cup, first at home.

"It's starting to feel real. The lead-up has been unreal, and we're just all really pumped to get into it," said Vlaeminck.

"To play in a World Cup full stop is pretty amazing. I was lucky enough to do that for the first time in the West Indies, so to do that for the first time in front of my family and friends, on pitches we play and train at all the time, is going to be unbelievable. I'd be lying if I said I hadn't thought about the final. I was lucky enough to be there at the men's 50-over World Cup final and to be in that crowd was pretty impressive. I remember Mitch Starc knocking out Brendon McCullum’s stumps, and the crowd went nuts. We've got a long way to go and we've got a really tough pool so we'll have to be at our best, but it would be a pretty incredible experience if we happen to get there."