The ICC is expected to make a decision this week on where the tournament is hosted
Alyssa Healy led Australia to Bangladesh earlier this year • Getty Images
Australia captain Alyssa Healy has said it feels like the “wrong thing” to host the upcoming T20 World Cup Bangladesh as the country continues to deal with the consequences of the recent violence which led to hundreds of deaths and the ousting of the government.
The Australian government is among those including the UK and India to have issued warnings about traveling to Bangladesh.
“I find it really hard to see a cricket event going on over there at the moment and taking resources away from a country that is really struggling,” Healy said. “They’re needing everyone they can possibly get in there helping people that are dying.”
“I’d find it hard to fathom playing there at the moment, as a human being, I feel like it might be the wrong thing to do. But I’ll leave it to the ICC to work out.”
Speaking on Sunday, allrounder Sophie Molineux said players had been kept in the loop.
“We’ve been [in] chats with Cricket Australia and they’re doing a lot of work with the ICC, and we’ve got full faith that they’ll come up with the right decision for everyone.”
Australia will name their World Cup squad next Monday and Healy was confident they would be able to adapt to whichever country ended up hosting. They had seen their tour of Bangladesh earlier this year where they played three ODIs and three T20Is as a key fact-finding mission.
“I feel like we’re so well balanced in the…players that we get to choose from, wherever the World Cup gets put, I think we’re going to have the right squad to take it on,” Healy said. “We’re obviously blessed we got to Bangladesh and got a taste of those conditions. But wherever we get put, we’ll be ready to adapt.”
It is expected Australia will name a settled squad. Fast bowler Darcie Brown is set to be available after spending the winter recovering from a stress fracture of her foot which kept her out of the Bangladesh tour. Molineux (rib) and Grace Harris (calf strain) were also recently ruled out of the Hundred through injury, but neither are considered a major doubt for the World Cup.
Jess Jonassen was the significant omission from the previous squad for Bangladesh and she is likely to find it hard to squeeze back in for the World Cup barring injuries with Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Alana King and Ashleigh Gardner the spin options. The World Cup squad will also play the three T20Is against New Zealand in September which act as preparation for the tournament.
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
