Nicola Carey keen to get stuck into pre-season training

In recent times, Australia’s obsession with allrounders has seen them pack their team with players with several strings to their bow. This has seen the likes of Ellyse Perry, Jess Jonassen, Sophie Molineux, Ashleigh Gardner, Delissa Kimmince, Erin Burns, Annabel Sutherland and Nicola Carey become central figures in the team’s plans. However, the abundance of said allrounders means they are often competing for limited spots in the playing XI.



Carey, who has been in and out of the setup for several years now, spending much of her time on the bench, recently enjoyed a rare extended run in the XI. She played nine out of Australia’s 11 T20Is in 2020, including the final of the T20 World Cup at the Melbourne Cricket Ground where she dismissed India’s top-scorer, Deepti Sharma.



Speaking to the media via video conference on Friday (June 12), Carey said it is the competition for spots that makes Australia such a dominant side, with players constantly feeding off each other in an attempt to improve.



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“When you're in that environment with the 15 best players in the country, you want to learn as much as possible off anyone wherever you can,” she said. “When you're in the nets and you're obviously bowling with a few people, you're often bouncing ideas off each other.”



“I've been in the nets with Schutter (Megan Schutt), for example, and we’re just like mucking around with our slower balls and things like that. Different people in the team have some pretty unique skills that potentially not everyone has, so it’s kind of cool to learn off them.”



“You’re not sitting there thinking like ‘This person is going to take my spot’... You don't really think about that sort of stuff. You've got to train. You do what you have to do and then the selection and stuff is out of everyone's hands anyway. So, you can't do much about it. You definitely try and learn as much off the others as you can.”



Despite being one of Australia’s ‘three-dimensional’ players, the team’s batting strength has often meant that Carey’s services have been rarely needed with the willow. With the likes of Alyssa Healy, Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, and Rachael Haynes scoring heavily over the last year, there is little need for the lower-middle order to showcase their skill-sets. Across her 24-match international career, the right-hander has batted 14 times – unbeaten on nine occasions – often coming in at the back-end of the innings when quick runs have been required.



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However, the 26-year-old said the lack of batting time at the international level has not worried her at all.



Nicola Carey enjoyed a successful stint with the bat for Hobart Hurricanes in WBBL05. © Getty Images



“Obviously, I play quite a different role when I'm in the Aussie set up as opposed to when I am back in the domestic setup with WBBL and things like that. We've got a ridiculous batting line up for Australia so it's quite hard to get up the order.”



“I guess you sort of can't do much about having Ellyse Perry, Midge (Healy) batting ahead of you in an order. So I'm happy where I am and I get enough in the other areas,” she added.



In a similar boat during her time playing for New South Wales, Carey made the move to Tasmania last season aware she would have more of an opportunity to bat higher up the order and showcase her potential as a genuine allrounder. The state switch also led to a transfer in the Women’s Big Bash League in 2019, where Carey turned out for Hobart Hurricanes, occupying a spot in their top order. The allrounder enjoyed a good season with the bat, racking up 267 runs – her highest in a single season of the competition – including two half centuries.



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“I guess I get all my loads and game-time out in the middle through the WBBL and WNCL. I had a really good stint, where I got up the order in the WBBL with the (Hobart) Hurricanes last season. I found that really handy… And then that holds you in good stead as you go on tours and things like that. So I feel fine in terms of like how much batting I get in and things like that.”



Having enjoyed an extended break that has allowed her to warm-up to life in Hobart, Carey can’t wait to get “stuck into” her first proper pre-season in two years. She will begin to train with a new look Tasmania squad – that includes two international recruits Heather Graham and Naomi Stalenberg – when the restrictions in the state are lifted come Monday (June 15).



“It's been a long break but it's actually gone really quick - not that I've actually done anything too exciting! It's kind of been groundhog day every day. But yeah, I am looking forward to getting back into things. I feel like we're one of the last states to sort of get back into it. We don't go back until Monday just through restrictions and things like that."



"We've got a pretty new group down here in Tasmania as well. (I'm) excited to sort of get in there and get started and sort of actually train with other people as opposed to sort of doing my own thing. I can't wait to see everyone.”



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“I think we've done pretty well recruiting this season,” Carey said. “It's added a little bit of depth to our batting line-up which I think will be really good.”



Cricket Australia recently announced the team’s international fixtures for the summer which includes two bilateral series against New Zealand and India. The schedule shows a clear shift in focus to the one-day format ahead of the 2021 Women’s World Cup in New Zealand next February.



After a period of 12-18 months where the team’s focus was largely on the T20 format, the shift in gear is not something that Carey is too worried about, indicating that the pre-season will allow her time to work on specifics going into the home season.



In recent times, Carey has enjoyed an extended run in the Australian XI. © ICC



“I haven't had a proper pre-season in probably a couple of years now," she laughed. "So it's a really good opportunity to sort of stay in the one environment and have a solid prep on whatever it is I want to work on skill-wise and things like that. And then, obviously, it is a bit of a different focus with the 50-over World Cup at the end of the year. But I sort of prepare in the pre-season as per usual and then I guess the closer you get to the games you'll sort of focus on the ODIs. I don’t have anything drastically different that I would do just for the 50-over stuff though.”



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While nothing has been officially announced about the fates of the Women's National Cricket League and the Women's Big Bash League, there have been whispers that both tournaments may have to be shortened events in 2020-21. However, Carey insisted that since the players had not been informed of any such plans, she was preparing for a normal full season of domestic cricket.



"I haven't heard that it's changed," she said. "I'm sort of expecting it to be as planned. If there is changes then so be it. I guess they have to do what they have to do. But I'm definitely planning for a proper season to go ahead."



Meanwhile, when asked about Jemimah Rodrigues’ suggestion that the women use a shorter pitch, Carey said that while she wouldn’t want to face someone like Tayla Vlaeminck on a shorter pitch, she was happy to see people thinking out of the box to try and make the sport a “better product”.



“I know at junior level they’ve been mucking around with different rules and formats to keep the kids interested and to make the game a bit more fun. I suppose they can trial things there (at the junior levels), and if they go really well they could potentially bring them up to the higher levels and see how it goes. But I think it's really cool that they're sort of talking about different things. Whether it comes into play or not is a different story, but it's good to see that they're still sort of thinking outside the box and trying to make the game the best possible product it can be,” she said.