Phoebe Litchfield, the young Australian batsman, has been making rapid progress in international women’s cricket since making her debut in December 2022.
She made her T20I debut in December 2022, ODI debut in January 2023 and Test debut in June 2023. She became the youngest batsman in BBL history to reach a half-century in both the Men’s and Women’s BBL. As well as making an impact in the tournament, she also played in the Women’s Hundred and the Women’s Premier League.
Her biggest achievement in her brief career so far has been winning the ICC Emerging Cricket Of The Year for 2023. She was chosen as the winner over nominations including Bangladesh’s Marufa Akhtar and England’s Lauren Bell.
Since making his international debut against India in a T20I series, Litchfield is now a mainstay of the Australian batting line-up with some of their veteran cricketers nearing retirement.
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In an exclusive interview with India Today, he spoke about various aspects of his game and the secret behind his jersey number 18. He said that he chose the jersey not because Virat Kohli or Smriti Mandhana wear the same number on their back. He also expressed his admiration for Indian left-hander Yashasvi Jaiswal.
It’s hard to top Virat Kohli: Phoebe Litchfield
“A lot of people know that my jersey number is 18. It’s not because of Smriti Mandhana or Virat Kohli, but interestingly, both of them are my favourite players. It’s hard to beat Kohli. I also like Yashasvi Jaiswal. He’s a good batsman to watch and I like him because he’s a left-hander as well,” Litchfield said.
His most memorable series was the ODI series he played against India in December 2022. He batted in very different and strange conditions, almost on the most twisted tracks in India. He showed the mental focus and technique to succeed on the pitches while scoring tons of runs.
He scored his second ODI century in the match at the Wankhede Stadium and followed it up with knocks of 63 and 78. Scoring 260 runs at an average of 86.66 meant Litchfield won the Player of the Series award.
Litchfield is looking forward to the tournament as the Women’s T20 World Cup is due to be held in Bangladesh in October this year. Australia have won the Women’s World Cup six times out of the previous eight editions and have won the title three times since 2018. She believes Australia are the favourites to win the tournament.
“I think so. The team is in a really good place. We’ve just had a few weeks of practice in Brisbane. Everyone seems to be hitting the ball really well and we’re in a really good position as a team. So I think we’re definitely in a position to lift that trophy again,” Litchfield concluded.
Phoebe Litchfield is already a mainstay in a team that features names like Alyssa Healy, Elysse Perry and Beth Mooney. She has played three Test matches, 20 ODI matches and 13 T20I matches so far, with her best performances coming in the 50-overs format, where she has already scored two centuries and four fifties.
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