NEWS
Follow UsAustralian opener Rachael Haynes has been ruled out of the remainder of the women's multi-format series against India because of a hamstring injury. The 34-year-old suffered a right hamstring injury during the third ODI and will now not feature in the one-off Test and three T20Is.
"Unfortunately her hamstring is no good. She's devastated – obviously, Test matches don't come around too often, she's a key member of our squad so our thoughts are with her at the moment," said Australia coach Matthew Mott ahead of the pink-ball Test, starting on Thursday in Queensland.
Haynes will remain with the squad till the opening day of the Test match but will then return to Sydney to spend time with her partner as they expect the birth of their first child.
Beth Mooney is most likely going to open alongside Alyssa Healy but Australia also have in-form Queensland batter Georgia Redmayne in the squad. Mooney scored 125* and 52 in the second and third ODI respectively but left the field during the final ODI with hamstring awareness.
"Beth is pretty good. She was very sensible the other day. She felt something and with all the workload that she has been under, we felt that even after that hundred and the quick turnaround she was a high risk. And she flagged it quite early and I think the medical staff are very comfortable with where she is at. She'll train today and I expect she will have a pretty light day tomorrow and be ready for the Test," said Mott.
Mott said legspinner Georgia Wareham too could make her Test debut. The 22-year-old has returned to training after suffering a quad injury in the second ODI and is likely to be available for the Test. Georgia is ticking all the boxes for her return to play. Once again, very sensible around that, she felt something quite early, got treatment on it, and has been doing everything she can to be right.
"Personally, I really hope she gets through it after the disappointment of missing out on the last Test we played. She's a key member. No matter what the wicket serves up, she's a wicket-taker, and she's an incredibly good thing for this team. I think she leads the way in the field, and her batting is evolving all the time. So hopefully, she gets the opportunity. As I said, she's done everything she can in her power to be ready."
Talking about the surface, Mott said: "It looks really good. One of the things we were hoping for is grass and there is plenty of grass on it, so that's exciting for everyone, for both teams, I guess. It is a couple of days out, obviously. I think (the curator) will give it a shave before the Test match actually starts. But it's a good sign. I think in the last couple of years in women's Tests, all the coaches have been asking for pace in the wicket and grass on it. So it's going to be a fantastic surface for both teams."
India lost the ODI series 1-2 but they did manage to end Australia’s 26-match winning streak.