The excitement heats up: Australians embrace the World Cup like no other

As Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign continues, the reigning champions face scorching heat and the various quirks of the tournament moving to Dubai

Australia are getting their first taste of the heat and humidity they will encounter in their bid for a fourth consecutive T20 World Cup as they begin to navigate the unique conditions surrounding the recently relocated tournament.

The Australian team enjoyed a gentle running session under the lights at the ICC Academy on Friday evening after touching down in Dubai early on Thursday morning; the temperature was still hovering in the mid-30s Celsius and 71 percent humidity.

The sticky evening weather was a glimpse of what was to come on Saturday afternoon and a full training session in bright 40-degree sunshine was a stern test of the heat acclimation protocols the players had undertaken before leaving Brisbane.

“Obviously you know it’s going to be very hot and humid, but I think until you actually get in there and start exercising, you realize how variable it can be and how intense it really is,” Kim Garth told cricket.com. .au Saturday morning.

“We had a pretty light session (on Friday night) but it was still very tiring and very intense.

“I think it will be difficult (but) we are lucky schedule-wise that we only have one day game, so hopefully that will work in our favor – although we will still have the other three (night) games to combat the humidity.

“We did the heat acclimatization work, the saunas, every day in Queensland, so I think the girls will be fine, but it does take some getting used to.”

Convened at the Australian ICC Academy // Getty

The setup of the tournament is quite different from what was originally planned for Bangladesh, where the two groups will be split between the cities of Dhaka and Sylhet.

Here, given its proximity to the tournament’s second venue, Sharjah, all 10 teams are not only staying in Dubai, but also staying in a single hotel.

This reveals the true identity of the world-class superstars who line up behind each other at the omelette station at the breakfast buffet each morning, and access to the hotel’s two gyms requires a carefully managed schedule.

This also means that multiple teams are training side by side at the same time at the ICC Academy; This is another anomaly from a typical tournament or dual series.

Australia warm up with the West Indies team on Friday evening // cricket.com.au

“We shared a hotel with a few teams last World Cup, but definitely not 10 teams, and I think that in itself will be a bit of a challenge because it’s hard to escape the cricket side of things.” Garth said.

“The day after the match, you go down to breakfast and you see the teams you have just played or are about to play and everywhere you turn there are cricketers.

“But having said that, we have our own ground, which I think is great.

“This is kind of our little hub and we really enjoy each other’s company.

“It’s okay, but it’s definitely different from the World Cups I’ve attended in the past.”

Australia’s full net session on Saturday was their first and only glimpse into the conditions ahead of Sunday’s warm-up match against England, which will be played at one of the ICC Academy ovals.

England have been in the UAE since September 13 after opting to send a second-tier team on their white-ball tour to Ireland earlier this month. Luckily, they had arranged the 11-day training camp in Abu Dhabi long before the tournament moved from Bangladesh to the UAE.

Alyssa Healy’s team will play a second friendly against the West Indies on Tuesday, after which all focus will shift to the opening match of the tournament against Sri Lanka in Sharjah on October 5.

All smiles as Australia’s first session gets underway in Dubai // cricket.com.au

Speaking in Dubai on Saturday, all-rounder Sophie Molineux said Australia were examining areas where improvements could be made in the T20I series, where they beat New Zealand 3-0 ahead of England’s warm-up.

“We picked up a lot in that series against the Kiwis and it was a really good series,” Molineux said.

“Even though we got over the line in all the games it was pretty close at times, so we learned a lot from that and I’m sure we’ll do that in tomorrow’s training match as well.

“But I’m sure they won’t look too different in terms of roles and stuff.

“Looking at the way England have played over the last two or three years, they’ve been really aggressive, so I don’t think it’s going to be much different tomorrow and it’s going to be a really good innings.”

2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

2024 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup

Warm-up matches

Australia’s Group A fixtures

finals