Vlaeminck determined to make an impact for Australia at T20 World Cup
The talented right-armer is ready to show her wares at next month's T20 World Cup in the UAE.
Injury-plagued Australia quick Tayla Vlaeminck is determined to put a frustrating few years behind her and make a major impact at next month's ICC Women's T20 World Cup.
Vlaeminck has battled a host of injuries since making her international debut against Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur in 2018 and the 25-year-old got a taste of the big time when she made a sole appearance at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies later that year.
But with a bulk of games at domestic level at the start of the year and a successful return to international action during her side's tour of Bangladesh in March and April, Vlaeminck believes she is well positioned to lead Australia's pace attack at the upcoming T20 World Cup in the UAE.
"It feels so different to the first time. When I was selected for the 2018 T20 World Cup in the West Indies, I hadn’t even debuted for Australia yet," Vlaeminck wrote in her column on the Cricket Australia website.
"That tour was one of my first experiences around the Aussie squad and I was just super pumped to be going to a World Cup, but I probably didn't appreciate how special it is and how rare they actually are.
"This one means a lot more. The work that has gone in behind the scenes and the hard hours of rehab with this as the goal and to finally – touch wood – be in that squad and hopefully be able to contribute to a World Cup, it’s a really cool feeling.
"I’ve changed a lot since then. I still have that same energy and love for the game, but I’m a little bit smarter about how I go about it now and just a little more mature."
Vlaeminck will face strong competition from a host of players to win a spot in Australia's pace attack at the T20 World Cup, with veteran seamer Megan Schutt, young gun Darcie Brown and emerging pacer Kim Garth all in contention for selection alongside a host of decent all-rounder options like Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland and Tahlia McGrath.
But Vlaeminck welcomes the competition for selection she will face and knows her team will need to be at their best if they are to win an unprecedented seventh T20 World Cup title.
"We’re in a tough group – Alyssa Healy’s called it the "group of death" – with India, Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Pakistan. But when it comes to a World Cup, anything is on the cards, it's a completely different tournament," Vlaeminck added.
"We’re all used to playing bilateral series, where you rock up play the same team over and over again, and you get to change things that don’t work and formulate new plans.
"That all goes out the window at a World Cup, and you just have to win. It puts a little bit more pressure on everyone, and it comes down to how teams can react to that. We've had a lot of experience in with that in the past and hopefully that'll hold us in good stead.
"It's going to be a really close World Cup and if we want to make it four in a row, we're going to have to be playing our best cricket."
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