NEW DELHI: Having been an integral part of the Australian women’s success story for over a decade, which includes influential performances at T20 World Cup triumphs, watching the extravaganza unfold as a spectator will surely hurt Jess Jonassen.
The left-arm spinner may have missed out on a place in the Australian squad, who will set out to defend their World T20 crown next week, but her heart still beats for her the team.Since making her debut in 2012, the only previous time Jonassen missed out was when she was ruled out of the 2013 edition due to injury.
The 32-year-old, with 96 T20 international wickets, believes that in the spin-friendly conditions in the UAE, batters will play a pivotal role in any team’s fortunes.
“Whoever plays spin the best, as opposed to whoever has the best spinners, or the best spin attack, will prevail. It will come down to the batting, and who bats best in those conditions. All teams have quality spin bowlers, so however you can best integrate the best players with the bat, that’s going to probably be the team that will go away with the trophy,” she said during an interaction with a group of journalists at the ABC – International Development’s commentary and mojo programme here.
Jonassen understandably picked Australia as the favourites, with India not far behind. “I’ve seen first-hand how hard everyone has worked in Australia, not only over this pre-season but since winning the previous edition in 2023. When it comes to World Cups, statistically no one’s better than Australia. We’ve been under another illusion that the pool that the Aussies are in is one of the toughest ones. But in saying that, I don’t think there’s going to be a single easy game in this entire World Cup, which is super exciting.
“India are well and truly a front-runner. The depth of players and versatility that they have is very good. I guess their experience in the UAE conditions will serve them well,” she explained.
With their extensive training in the UAE, Jonassen thinks England will put up a good fight alongside the spin-rich Lankan squad.
“England’s always up there. They’re currently over there for a pre-season camp and they always take camps to Oman. They have an experienced side as well and some of the best players in the world like Sophie Ecclestone and Nat Sciver-Brunt are in the team. Sri Lanka, the Asia Cup champions, are in a purple patch at the moment, performing well, and they have some quality spinners in their ranks.”
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led Indian team will open their campaign against New Zealand on October 4, while defending champions Australia will play their first match against Sri Lanka the following day.
