Deitz, the former South Australia wicketkeeper-batter who has previously coached the Bangladesh and Netherlands women’s sides, took up his role last month but this tour has been the first chance for him to get the squad together.
Deitz has a simple message for them ahead of the opening T20I in Sydney: play with freedom and have fun.
“Got out there and enjoy it. Enjoy the challenge and play with freedom,” Deitz told ESPNcricinfo. “We’ve got nothing to lose. Australia is the world’s best team for a long time now. We’ve got to find an identity for how we want to play. Using that natural ability and talent and letting that flow is the way I’m looking to do it. Play with a smile on your face, have fun.”
“We are definitely up for the challenge,” she said. “At the end of the day if we are going to compete with the best teams in the world that’s the brand of cricket we are going to have to play. Teams are now scoring 160-170 runs in T20 games and don’t reckon anyone’s going to score or win games by just nudging it around.
“Not only the younger players, but everyone within the team has to have freedom to go out there and push their boundaries, push their limits and that’s what we are encouraging.”
“Her performances over the last 12 months or longer have been unbelievable,” Deitz said. “She’s one of the best in the world, for sure. I’ve been so impressed with her leadership and captaincy within the group. It’s amazing for her age to be such a great leader. We are enjoying our time working together, we think along the same lines. Think the team’s in good hands with her.”
Matthews added: “He’s gelled really well with the group and tried to get into the culture of the girls a little bit. At the same he’s spoken a lot about us progressing in the right direction and getting the youngsters to a certain standard and becoming a more consistent team.”
“There’s definitely a lot of youth coming through, [it’s about] harnessing that talent and putting in a world-class high-performance programme around them to produce international standard players,” Deitz said. “There’s definitely lots to work with. We want to win every game, but you have to have a longer-term vision to develop players and allow them to make mistakes along the way.
“We want to find a nucleus of players for that [T20] World Cup, it’s a year away now, we are definitely building towards that, so we have to work with the players to get them ready.”
“I think they are a really damaging side,” she said. “Maybe the results over the last 12 months don’t quite represent the side they are and how much damage they can do. They’ve got two of the best players in the world at the top of the order and some really damaging new-ball options as well. If Hayley Matthews gets going at North Sydney Oval it will be really hard to stop.
“We aren’t taking them lightly at all, don’t think you can take any team in world cricket lightly at the moment, everyone is beating everyone which is great for our sport, so we’ll have to put our best foot forward.”
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
