Australia women's squad for Bangladesh white-ball tour announced; Jess Jonassen omitted

Australian women left-arm spinner, Jess Jonassen has been excluded from Australia’s white-ball squad for the tour of Bangladesh, which will begin in March. Jonassen has been part of Australia’s touring squad since she made her debut in 2012. However, in recent times the team management has been giving chances to spinners such as Alana King, Sophie Molineux, and Georgia Wareham.

After Jess Jonassen was omitted from Australia‘s white-ball squad for the tour of Bangladesh, chief selector Shawn Flegler that the out-of-favor spinner will still have the chance to play in the future series. Flegler believes that over the last 12 months, Jonassen’s role in the team hasn’t been that strong. The Australian women’s cricket team selector further heaped praise on Ash Gardner’s form and believes that she is developing her game. He also lauded Alana King’s performance and believes that her form in the last 18 months has been exceptional.

Jess Jonassen excluded from Australian women’s tour of Bangladesh squad

He said, “I think over the last couple of years, particularly over the last 12 months, JJ’s role has not been as strong in the team. That’s probably more to do with players like Ash Gardner having her game develop…and also players like Georgia Wareham with her skill set. Alana King’s form as well over the last 12 to 18 months has been really strong.”

Australia squad vs Bangladesh: Alyssa Healy (capt), Darcie Brown, Ash Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20 only), Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck

Jess Jonassen is currently in India and is featuring for the Delhi Capitals for the Women’s Premier League. Jonassen has played a total of 105 T20I matches for Australia and has picked 96 wickets at an average of 19.62. She has managed to pick three four-wicket hauls and 1 five-wicket haul.

The Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 is also set to take place in Bangladesh in October. Spinners will play a crucial role in slow Bangladeshi wickets and hence Jess Jonassen can prove to be very helpful for Australia. However, the current squad already features a handful of spin options, if any of them gets injured then Jonassen may get a chance.

Alyssa Healy will be leading the 15-member Australian team on the tour of Bangladesh starting in March. Australia would be playing a three-match ODI series followed by a three-match T20I series. Australia have never toured Bangladesh for a bilateral series and their last visit to the country was in 2014 when they played the T20 World Cup here.

Australia are the six-time champions of the T20 World Cup and also the defending champions. The Aussies have plenty of big names such as Alyssa Healy, Ellyse Perry, Ash Gardner, and Tahlia McGrath, who have been the backbone of the team for the last few years.

Also, young players such as Phoebe Litchfield, Alana King, Annabel Sutherland, and many more players have started to take the responsibilities and fill the shoes of the senior players. Australia had a decent outing on the tour of India wherein they ended up losing the only Test whereas they won the T20I and the ODI series by 2-1 and 3-0 respectively. It has been very difficult to beat Australia in white-ball cricket over the past few years, and Bangladesh would get a huge exposure while facing Australia.