Georgia Voll interview, T20 World Cup, video, highlights

Disaster struck during Australia’s recent white-ball tour of the West Indies, an incident that sent shockwaves through the national women’s squad.

“Our coffee machine broke,” opener Georgia Voll told Fox Cricket, speaking from St. Kitts.

“That’s been pretty sad. We’ve had to resort to local cafes, some good, some bad.

“We’ll take what we can get,” she added with a laugh.

Get all the latest cricket news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now >

Apart from the caffeine mishap, pretty much everything went to plan for the national women’s team during their Caribbean escapade, winning six straight matches against the West Indies.

The T20 series whitewash served as a timely boost ahead of Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign in the United Kingdom, which gets underway in June, but the tour was especially significant for Voll, who has been tasked with replacing the retired Alyssa Healy across formats.

And the 22-year-old has quickly proven she’s more than up to the task.

During the rain-affected third T20 in St. Vincent, Voll cracked her maiden century in the format, a 53-ball 101 that featured six sixes. She became just the fourth Australian to achieve the feat in a women’s T20I, joining modern greats Meg Lanning, Beth Mooney and Healy.

A few days later, Voll climbed to No. 1 on the ICC women’s T20I batting rankings, snatching the crown from opening partner Mooney. Just 14 months after making her debut in the format, she’s considered the world’s best.

“Obviously I’m happy with the way that I’m hitting the ball at the moment … I bat my best when I’m not thinking too much, just watch the ball and react,” Voll said.

“That’s probably what happened the other night (in St. Vincent). I was obviously lucky enough for it to come off and be able to put a decent score on the board for the team.”

Voll currently averages 39.50 in T20Is with an imposing strike rate of 156.43, but in what should serve as a warning to her T20 World Cup rivals, she feels there’s room for improvement.

“There are always things that you can look to work on, or get better in different aspects of the game, and I think that’ll always be (the case) until I finish my career,” she continued.

“There are little things that I’d love to look at heading into playing over in those English conditions, so I’ll obviously get stuck into that before we head over there.”

Australia’s in unfamiliar territory ahead of the T20 World Cup. For the first time in nearly a decade, they’re not the reigning champions, knocked out by South Africa in the semi-finals during the 2024 edition of the tournament, with the White Ferns winning their maiden title.

Albeit six-time champions, including a hat-trick of titles from 2018-2023, Voll believes that Australia could now be considered the sport’s “underdogs”.

“There’s hunger,” Voll replied when asked about Australia’s empty trophy cabinet.

“This group’s obviously been super successful overall, but not holding either of those trophies, you could say we’re going in as underdogs.

“This group is in such a great state of mind and the way that we want to play our cricket, we’ve shown glimpses of that over the last little period.

“We’re very hungry to go over and get the job done.”

Healy and Lanning headline a cluster of high-profile retirements since the famous 2020 triumph at the MCG, with vice-captain Rachael Haynes and veteran seamer Delissa Kimmince hanging up the boots, while experienced spinner Jess Jonassen has fallen out of favour with the national selectors.

However, Voll headlines the next generation of stars filling the gaps in Australia’s starting XI, alongside batter Phoebe Litchfield and all-rounder Annabel Sutherland. The trio have quashed any concerns about a looming period of transition, with quick Megan Schutt and superstar Ellyse Perry also approaching the twilight of their international careers.

“When you have the likes of those players stepping away from the game, you’re always questioning who’s going to come in and fill that, or try to live up to those expectations,” Voll said.

“And you’ve seen the way that Bells has come in and Phoebes as well, two world-class players already.

“It’s obviously nice to be a part of that and continue learning from the best players in the world, and when you’re surrounded by that and training with those types of people day in, day out, it sets you up in good stead.

“We’re obviously doing our best to keep Australia women’s cricket in such a good position moving forward, and we can hopefully take this team to new heights.”

Healy, who played her 299th and final match for Australia last month, left behind some big shoes to fill, not only for her leadership and glovework, but also with the willow. The veteran wicketkeeper was Australia’s hero during finals of the home T20 World Cup in 2020 and 2022 World Cup in New Zealand, producing match-winning knocks on both occasions.

Her absence was sorely felt during the 2024 tournament in the United Arab Emirates.

However, Voll considers herself a like-for-like replacement for Healy in many regards, both being powerful right-handers that aren’t afraid to heap pressure back on bowlers during the Powerplay by targeting down the ground.

“Obviously Midge has been such a great player for a long period of time,” Voll said.

“To follow in her footsteps a little bit, I don’t try and think about it too much because it could be quite daunting. I just want to play my own way, and obviously that is quite similar to the way Midge played.

“I get compared to (Healy) a little bit, which obviously is pretty high praise, but I just try to keep things as simple as I can, and when I’m doing that is when I’ll perform at my best.

“I’m happy to take on that responsibility and just do the best I can for this team.”

Voll has formed a damaging partnership alongside Mooney; the duo averages 53.91 together at the crease, comfortably the highest figure among opening stands in women’s T20Is.

The left-right combination and their contrasting styles with the bat make them a nightmare for opposition bowlers during the Powerplay.

“She’s definitely someone that’s calm to bat with,” Voll said of Mooney.

“Growing up, once I moved to Brisbane, she was someone that I looked to and trained alongside for a lot of the time, and she’s really helped me.

“Coming into this environment and finding my feet and how I want to go about things, to be opening to batting for Australia with someone like her, the best batter in the world, having her at the other end just makes my job a little bit easier.”

Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign gets underway on June 13, facing South Africa at Old Trafford.

Click here to read article