Conditions key as Tigresses look to grab points in Australia series

There was an excitement building-up at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium yesterday as Bangladesh prepared to take on mighty Australia with the first of three women's ODIs slated to begin today in Mirpur.

The match is scheduled to begin at 9:30am (local time), and will be televised live on T Sports and streamed on Bangladesh Cricket Board's official YouTube channel, Bangladesh Cricket: The Tigers.

Bangladesh have enjoyed some boost to morale in recent few series. They drew the ODI series against India last year, where the nail-biting final ODI was tied. They beat formidable Pakistan in both white-ball formats as well before clinching their first-ever ODI and T20I wins in South Africa last year.

If those results transformed the mentality of the side, a notion that Bangladesh skipper Nigar Sultana Joty felt fully convinced by, the Tigresses also know that Australia, the seven-time ODI World Cup champions and six-time T20I world champions are a different beast, one that arrived with full strength.

"They are the better side. They are the world champions. Playing against them is a huge experience for us," Joty said at the pre-series press conference yesterday.

"The way we have played in the last six or seven months and looking at their squad, it is clear that they haven't taken us lightly. The [T20] World Cup is also here. We have done well recently against India, Pakistan and South Africa but Australia are the better side," the wicketkeeper-batter added.

Managing women's ODI championship points is the big agenda for Bangladesh. The top five teams along with the hosts India would qualify for the 2025 ODI World Cup directly and Bangladesh are keen on being inside the top six. In fact, it is an added motivation to do well against Australia. Bangladesh have 13 points in 15 games and are currently seventh in the standings, just below India at sixth.

"Every point is important in the ICC cycle. We are really focused on not wanting to play qualifying round in the World Cup. We want to grab as many points as possible, which is leading us to play better," Joty said.

"We are exploiting our own home conditions. I am very confident in my team," Bangladesh head coach Hashan Tillakratne said during the presser. Joty echoed similar sentiments on testing a batting-dependent Australia side.

"Our home condition is going to be quite different for them [Australia]. Our batting seemed strong in South Africa. Our bowling seemed strong at home against India and Pakistan. It is a good sign that we are doing better in both departments. They depend a lot on four or five batters. They are a batting-dependent team. Our bowling is really good at home and have confidence to perform at a high level. If we can restrict them, we will have a chance," Joty said about the plan.

Australia skipper Alyssa Healy was keen on finding out about the conditions and Bangladesh's spin dominance.

"I think if you look at their squad as a whole, they possess a lot of skill within their bowling attack. I think a lot of spin which is quite noticeable and obviously a real challenge for teams not from the subcontinent.

"Watching a little bit of the series they played recently against India and in these conditions, they made it really challenging for the aggression of that Indian batting line-up," Healy said.