Ash Gardner set for swift return after Covid-19 isolation

Tahlia McGrath is also available for the New Zealand match after a minor foot problem

Gardner tested positive at the end of Australia’s warm-up stint in Christchurch, which forced her into ten days of quarantine and ruled her out of the opening two matches against England and Pakistan. However, she is set to return at the earliest opportunity, with Mott confident she will still be match-ready despite the spell largely confined to a hotel room.

“Would be different if she was a fast bowler, but as a spinner and where she bats in the order, she would have held her fitness enough during that time and she’ll come straight back in,” Mott said. “Think she’ll be pretty excited to rejoin the group, would have been a long time away from everyone.”

Mott and the players have kept in regular contact with Gardner, and she has continued to be involved in team planning sessions from isolation.

“She’s been in a few of the spinners meetings and Shelly [Nitschke, the assistant coach] says she has probably given more than ever,” Mott said. “Think [with] that separation she has probably realised how lucky she is to be part of the group.”

“We’ve definitely got a lot more people available now with Ash and T-Mac coming back in, so it will be a really tricky selection for us,” Mott said. “We’ve always planned for Darcie to come back in but have to work out the conditions here.

“We’ve got a lot of planning to do. That practice match for us was some great intel, we learned a lot about the way they play and some ideas about how we might be counteract that match-winning ability”

Matthew Mott on the New Zealand threat

“Think it [the wind] will definitely throw up some different combinations. We’ve already talked about the ugly end and certain bowlers who are more suited to that. The likes of Jess Jonassen, Tahlia McGrath, that can probably back up into the wind, will do a big job and Megan Schutt will have to do some work there. We’ll have to be really ahead of the game with those bowling changes and Meg [Lanning] is already across it.”

They will be facing a New Zealand side that has got its tournament into gear with back-to-back wins against Bangladesh and India after the agonising opening-day loss to West Indies.

“They’ve got a world-class legspinner and think Kerr is [also] the most improved batsman in the world at the moment, proving very hard to knock over and matches up very well against spin,” Mott said. “So we’ve got a lot of planning to do. That practice match for us was some great intel, we learned a lot about the way they play and some ideas about how we might be counteract that match-winning ability.”