Litchfield in line for Test debut after Ashes call-up

Long regarded as a star of the future, teenage batter Phoebe Litchfield has been named for her first Ashes tour and could make her Test debut.

PHOEBE LITCHFIELD.
PHOEBE LITCHFIELD. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

Teen sensation Phoebe Litchfield didn't "think it was her time yet" but luckily the Australian selectors don't agree.

Litchfield is the one new face in the 15-woman squad announced on Wednesday for the multi-format Ashes series and is firming for her Test debut.

Selectors have otherwise retained all players who won the Twenty20 World Cup in February.

The 19-year-old's call-up comes after a stellar home summer, where she was dismissed only once in her first three ODIs against Pakistan and totalled 154 runs.

Long regarded as one of the country's best young talents, Litchfield also averaged 49.87 for NSW in one-day cricket, and registered her maiden WNCL century.

"I was at uni, (selector) Shawn Flegler called me and I said 'I need to take this call'," Litchfield recalled.

"It was going to go one of two ways ... I was pretty pumped, walked back in and was like, 'Yep, cool'.

"I'm probably the sixth or seventh batter in that top order ... I didn't think it was my time yet.

"For so long they've been so successful ... it shows these girls are really good and I'm just keen to be there and put my hand up if the opportunity arises."

Flegler said Litchfield had demanded inclusion after "taking her game to the next level in the past 12 months" and is viewed as an all-format player.

Her chances of cracking into the Test team on June 22 at Trent Bridge are helped by Rachael Haynes's retirement after Australia's last four-day match in 2022, leaving a gap at the top of the order.

The left-hander is considered a genuine chance of taking that spot, unless Australia open with Beth Mooney and play an extra bowler than in their last Test.

Kim Garth and Grace Harris are the other two players in the squad without Test experience.

English conditions are expected to suit Garth and her ability to move the ball, after moving from Ireland and becoming one of Australia's front-line bowlers.

Harris previously toured England for the 2015 Ashes, but is seen as more of a white-ball player for the three T20s and ODIs that follow the Test match.

Legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington is again the unlucky player, picked instead for the Australia A tour, with fellow legspinners Alana King and Georgia Wareham preferred for the main squad.

Tayla Vlaeminck has also been named to make her comeback in the A side, after a lengthy layoff from foot fractures suffered in January 2022.

Australia will keep their options open of moving players from the A squad and into the top team, with their three ODIs and T20s scheduled around the senior side.

Notable absentees from that squad include Elyse Villani, with the door now seemingly shut at age 33 after topping the run-scoring charts in the WNCL for two of the past three summers.

Tasmania teammate Nicola Carey was also left out of both squads, after being dropped from Australia's main group in January.

AUSTRALIA SQUAD FOR WOMEN'S ASHES:

Meg Lanning (capt), Darcie Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alyssa Healy, Jess Jonassen, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Wareham.

AUSTRALIA A SQUAD

Maitlan Brown, Lauren Cheatle, Maddy Darke, Heather Graham, Nicole Faltum, Tess Flintoff, Charli Knott, Kate Peterson, Courtney Sippel, Tayla Vlaeminck, Courtney Webb, Amanda-Jade Wellington, Tahlia Wilson.