Australia coach Matthew Mott says lack of match practice will make team vulnerable against ‘emerging supergiant’ India

Sydney: The lack of match practice ahead of the upcoming multi-format home series against “emerging supergiants” India will make the Australian women’s team “vulnerable”, according to head coach Matthew Mott. The two sides are slated to play a full series, comprising three ODIs, as many T20Is, and an one-off Test, from 19 September to 11 October in Australia. “(India) are an emerging supergiant in the game, they have a lot of great players and they will be tough opposition,” Mott was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Friday after signing a two-year extension that will see him remain with the side until after the 2023 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in South Africa. [caption id=“attachment_9776631” align=“alignnone” width=“640”]  Australia captain Meg Lanning poses with the Women’s T20 World Cup trophy alongside star all-rounder Ellyse Perry and head coach Matthew Mott. Image credit: Twitter/@ICC[/caption] “They are playing over in England at the moment and, if anything, we’ll be a bit vulnerable because we won’t have had a lot of cricket. So that’s at the forefront of our mind,” he added. The Indian team will head to Australia after playing a full series against England. Five of India’s top players, including Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur, will also feature in the inaugural season of The Hundred. On the other hand, the home series against India will be Australia’s first fixture since their tour of New Zealand in April. Nine out of the 10 CA contracted players have also pulled out from The Hundred. Mott, who was set to coach Welsh Fire, has also withdrawn from the tournament. “It would be great to get everyone back together face to face, have a really strong camp in Brisbane at the National Cricket Centre with fantastic new facilities out there, and just for some of the (players from) southern states to train outside in good weather. “So fingers crossed the borders open up and we’re free of COVID as much as we can be and we navigate around,” Mott added.