Injury-plagued fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck watched the 2022 World Cup final from her couch, accompanied by housemates Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham.
The Victorian teammates had each suffered long-term injuries that ruled them out of the marquee tournament in New Zealand, which Meg Lanning’s Australians won after a one-sided final against England.
“That probably wasn’t the best of days,” Vlaeminck told reporters on Tuesday morning.
The trio have not played a match together since, but that drought looks set to end in the coming weeks after Vlaeminck was named in Australia’s 15-player squad for the upcoming white-ball tour of Bangladesh.
Following the announcement, Vlaeminck got in contract with Molineux and Wareham, who are currently in India for the Women’s Premier League.
“They said, ‘The band’s back together again,’” Vlaeminck recalled.
“I’m so excited to get on the park with them.”
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The 25-year-old, who made her international debut as a teenager in 2018, is considered one of the fastest bowlers in the country, capable of regularly exceeding 120km/h. However, injury has repeatedly thwarted the right-armer, who played the most recent of her 24 matches for Australia in early 2022.
Vlaeminck was ruled out of the 2020 T20 World Cup after suffering a stress fracture in the navicular bone of her foot, watching from the sidelines as Australia won the final in front of 86,174 spectators at the MCG. A couple of years later, an untimely recurrence of the injury ruled her out of the 2022 Ashes, the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the 2022 Women’s Big Bash League and the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.
The Melbourne Renegades quick made her long-awaited comeback ahead of last year’s Australia A tour of the United Kingdom, but in a cruel twist dislocated her left shoulder during a one-day match against England A in Guildford, ruling her out of this summer’s WBBL.
Accompanying her on the three-hour trip to London for X-rays was chief selector Shawn Flegler, who had the honour of phoning Vlaeminck this week to inform her of her national call-up.
“It was a pretty awkward phone call, I lost the ability to speak for a moment,” Vlaeminck laughed.
“It’s something I’ve been pushing towards and it’s given me motivation over the last couple of years. For it to actually happen, it felt a little bit surreal.”
Vlaeminck returned from injury once again last month, playing five WNCL matches for Victoria and taking four wickets at 31.00. It was enough to convince Flegler she was ready for another shot at international cricket.
“I think every time she bowled in the WNCL, she got better and better,” Flegler said.
“I know she had a session with Meg Lanning, a centre wicket, before one of the WNCL games, and Meg was full of praise at how quick she was bowling and her great outswing.
“It’s a nice opportunity to have Tay back in and around the squad; it’s a good chance for her to go overseas with the Australian team again.”
Vlaeminck, who was offered a national contract last year despite her injury woes, has been forced to remodel her bowling action to avoid further damage, working closely with Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria over the last 24 months.
“I wasn’t sure if it would actually happen and if I would be able to get back to the point where it would happen,” Vlaeminck continued.
“I am just so pumped and so grateful for all the support I have received.”
Vlaeminck’s journey mimics that of Australian men’s captain Pat Cummins, who also made his international debut at a young age before spending several years battling heel and back stress fractures.
“She’s been so unlucky,” Australian wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy told Fox Cricket earlier this summer.
“I guess there’s some parallels to Pat Cummins that she can take some comfort in, and know that she can still have a full career if things stay in place.”
Meanwhile, Jess Jonassen’s international career is at a crossroads after the Queenslander was omitted from Australia’s squad for the Bangladesh tour. It marks the first time Jonassen has been left out of an Australian touring party in 14 years.
The 31-year-old spinner slipped out of Australia’s first-choice starting XI in all three formats this summer, carrying drinks for all seven matches of the multi-format series against South Africa.
“It’s a tough call for JJ. It’s probably the first squad that she’s missed out on in a long time,” Flegler explained.
“Over the last couple of years, in particular over the last 12 months, JJ’s role has not been as strong in the team, and that’s probably more to do with players like Ash Gardner, having her game develop and grow quite a bit over that time and taking more of those opportunities that JJ did have.
“But the message for her is to keep working hard you just never know when the next opportunity is going to come and you need to be ready for that.
“So we’ve got a World Cup obviously at the back end of this year back in Bangladesh and we want to see JJ keep fighting and putting a hand up for selection which I know she will.”
Dates have not been confirmed for Australia’s first bilateral tour to Bangladesh, but the first ODI is expected to be in late March.
Australian women’s squad for Bangladesh white-ball tour
Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris (T20s only), Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath (vc), Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham, Tayla Vlaeminck
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