Australia's women cricketers prepare for Duke ball ahead of Ashes series

Nottingham [UK] : Australia's women cricketer will play their one-off Ashes test match in Nottingham from June 22 onwards. In the summer season, they are preparing themselves for the Duke ball ahead of the match. Australia's squad of 13 players arrived in the United Kingdom on Sunday - the 14th member, Grace Harris, will join the group this weekend following the three-day practice match.

"We had a two-day practice match against the Aus A girls (before leaving Australia), which was really cool to do and started those conversations, and we've had a couple of camps as well, where we've been able to get the Dukes ball in our hands and get used to that," allrounder Annabel Sutherland said as quoted by cricket.com.au. "But the more we can get out there in a match scenario and have those conversations, I think it'll do us a world of good to get set for the Test," she further said. England will play the first Ashes game with the new coach Jon Lewis. He had joined the side ahead of the T20 World Cup earlier this year. He has given a new vision of an aggressive brand of cricket to English players.

Australian Women's team suffered a huge blow after Meg Lanning was ruled out of the tour. Lanning had withdrawn from the squad due to a 'medical issue'. On Meg's absence, Sutherland said, "We would love to have Meg here and our thoughts are certainly with her in back home. We've talked about it as a group that it's obviously a big, big miss to not have Meg, she's an outstanding player and leader of the team."

"So we're certainly going to miss having her but in saying that, I think Alyssa and (vice-captain Tahlia McGrath) are exceptional leaders in their own right ... we've got really good depth in our side to fill that (hole) and have shown that in previous series where Meg hasn't been there," she added. Australia squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Tahlia McGrath (vc), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham England Test squad: Heather Knight (c), Natalie Sciver-Brunt (vc), Tammy Beaumont, Lauren Bell, Alice Capsey, Kate Cross, Alice Davidson-Richards, Sophia Dunkley, Sophie Ecclestone, Lauren Filer, Danielle Gibson, Amy Jones, Emma Lamb, Issy Wong, Danielle Wyatt.