Star Australia allrounder Tahlia McGrath has continued her rapid ascension in international cricket after being crowned the world’s new No.1 Twenty20 women’s batter.
McGrath has played just 16 T20Is for Australia since making her debut against India in October 2021, but has already risen to the top of the rankings in the format.
The 27-year-old has leapfrogged teammate Beth Mooney to be the world’s top-ranked batter with 827 points.
McGrath becomes the second-fastest woman to have claimed the top spot, one shy of West Indies star Stafanie Taylor who took just 15 matches back in 2010.
She is averaging an extraordinary 121.25 in the shortest format of the game, recording six unbeaten knocks in her 10 innings.
The South Australian has long been touted for greatness, making her ODI and Test debuts in 2016 and 2017 respectively, but had been unable to nail down a spot in the powerful national team.
But since forcing her way back into the Australia side last year, McGrath has been a significant player in all three formats, starring in the ODI World Cup win in April.
(Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)
McGrath has been promoted to vice-captain for Australia’s current T20 tour of India, serving as deputy to Alyssa Healy in the indefinite absence of long-time skipper Meg Lanning.
“She’s just grown in confidence, and confidence goes a long way in this format,” Healy said of McGrath.
“It’s an incredibly fickle format but if you’re walking out there just a little bit more confident than your opposition it could generally fall your way and ‘TMac’ has just grown as a cricketer, as a leader and as a batter as well.
“She’s really confident in her ability and what she can do for our side and that’s great.”
Meanwhile Healy said Australia’s bowlers need to quickly find a way to stop India’s power hitting after the hosts head into Wednesday’s third T20I in Mumbai on a high after a stunning super over win.
India levelled the five-game series one-all on Sunday when they equalled Australia’s 187, then hit 20 in the tiebreaker over to secure a four-run win.
“I think there were probably little areas that we didn’t do well (and) I thought India played really, really well,” Healy told Cricket Australia’s website.
“They hit nine sixes to our one in the regulation overs, and I think that sheer power got them over the line in the end.
“It’s not that we have to emulate what they’ve done, but I think we’ve got to look at limiting the damage that their big players had the other night.
“(The power they possess) is a constant worry for us and we’ve been really lucky in the past to win key little moments in big games, and I think they won the key moments the other night.
“That’s a great step for them in terms of building some momentum in T20 cricket so we’ve just got to come out here and tomorrow night and counter that.”
Australia’s one six in their 1-187 in Sunday’s second T20I compared to India’s nine was an area Healy said had to be improved upon.
With Australia only losing one wicket in each of their innings to date, Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Grace Harris, Annabel Sutherland and Heather Graham have yet to face a ball this series.
“We’re finding the boundary a lot, but can we make it a more damaging boundary and hit that six?” said Healy.
“Can we come down the ground a little bit more and hit to our strengths.
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“But we’re not doing a lot wrong, we’re not playing bad cricket at all, I just thought India played really, really well the other night and at no point has it been panic stations in our changing room.
“The beauty of the other night’s game, we were taking wickets with the ball, which was actually enabling India’s really big powerful hitters to come into the game and do damage … we’re only losing one wicket and we’ve got three big hitters sitting in the middle-order that aren’t getting a hit.
“We’ll have a look at look at that … I think we could push the letter a little bit more with the bat and maybe give them an opportunity.”
Darcie Brown is expected to play after sitting out the first two games through illness.
“I think potentially sitting in (her) room for a few days, she might have been a bit underdone, but more than likely, I’d assume that she’d come back into our XI,” Healy said.
“She just offers some real pace and bounce with the ball and I think that’s something that we can use to our advantage.”
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