After a wretched run with injuries Plenty Valley’s Tayla Vlaeminck returns to the Australian cricket squad that will travel to Bangladesh next month
Vlaeminck will get the chance to restart her international career after being returned to the Australian fold for the national women’s team’s first visit to Bangladesh in a decade.
Vlaeminck’s return to the squad caps her latest comeback from a luckless run of injuries, having returned to action with Victoria to play five of their final six games of the Women’s National Cricket League season this year.
The 25-year-old dislocated her non-bowling shoulder while bowling during an Australia A match in England last July. The innocuous action that led to the dislocation and the likelihood of it reoccurring meant surgery.
That Australia A tour had been Vlaeminck’s return from a second serious foot injury.
The Victorian was diagnosed with a stress fracture in her navicular bone during the last home Ashes in January 2022 and subsequently missed the ODI World Cup in New Zealand, 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.
Her first brush with the same injury ruled her out of the home T20 World Cup in 2020.
Cricket Australia’s head of performance for women’s cricket and national selector Shawn Flegler said he was delighted to see Vlaeminck return to the limited-overs formats.
“Tayla has put in a mountain of work over the past six months after a disappointing setback in England,” he said.
“She has shown terrific positivity and resilience throughout her recovery and we’re looking forward to seeing her back in Australian colours
“With a T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September, this tour provides a vital opportunity for our players to experience and familiarise themselves with the conditions and wickets we’re likely to face later in the year.”
The only previous visit to Bangladesh for Australia’s women came in 2014 when they won that year’s T20 World Cup, making the upcoming series Australia’s first bilateral tour to Bangladesh.
All six matches, the dates of which are yet to be officially confirmed but are expected to be held between March 21 and April 4, with the ODI leg first, will be played at the National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka.
The ODIs are part of the ICC Women’s Championship for direct qualification to the 2025 Women’s Cricket World Cup in India.
