Matthew Mott confident despite AUS players' mixed-bag WBBL

Matthew Mott, Australia head coach, is not too worried about the form of some of his key players in the ongoing Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup early next year to be held in Australia. Players such as Alyssa Healy, Rachael Haynes, Ashleigh Gardner and Erin Burns have had a patchy WBBL season, largely searching for runs throughout.

Despite their up and down form, Mott said all is not lost with the second round of the Women's National Cricket League and a T20I tri-series against England and India not far around the corner.

"It’s not a concern," Mott told cricket.com.au. "Players go through patches."

"It’s been interesting for Rachael to take on the captaincy, it gives her a lot more to think about but there’s certainly no question over her role for us in terms of T20 after what’s she’s done for us over the last couple of years."

Apart from those who have struggled, there are some who have enjoyed a stellar run of form which augurs well for Mott and the management. Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning, Jess Jonassen and Delisa Kimmince have been excellent for their respective teams. Mooney, in particular, has been extremely consistent scoring over 600 runs, including eight fifties and has been instrumental in taking Brisbane Heat to the semi-finals. On the other hand, Jonassen has been relentless with both bat and bowl picking 19 wickets and scoring over 350 runs.

"Jess Jonassen, I’ve watched a lot of her games live and she’s bowled the house down," he continued. "Beth Mooney has been on fire and a big reason why the Heat are up there at the top of the table."

Mott was commentating at the Drummoyne Oval on November 17 when Sixers captain Ellyse Perry injured her right shoulder during a fielding mishap. She narrowly missed out on being fit for the final weekend of the league stage. However, with Sixers out of the tournament, she has a while longer to manage her return. Mott believes Perry will make a strong comeback in the following domestic and international matches.

"The injury to Pez was disappointing but in the big scheme of things it won’t hurt her," Mott said.

"On one hand you’ve got to commend her for being gutsy and staying out there, but hopefully next time she gets out of the firing line and gets some treatment on it as soon as possible."

With Adelaide Strikers, Perth Scorchers, Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades having qualified for the semi-finals, Mooney, Lanning, Jonassen and Megan Schutt are some of the big Australian names who'll be in action.