Stand-in captain McGrath has 'absolutely no idea' about her batting position
Published: Oct 8, 2026, 7:14 AM (20 mins ago)
Nigar Sultana and Tahlia McGrath pose with the trophy • Cricket Australia via Getty Images
The three-match series kicks off in Brisbane on Friday, with allrounder McGrath to skipper the Australia side as Sophie Molineux recovers from a hip injury after carrying drinks during Australia's successful T20 World Cup campaign despite being the joint vice-captain with Ash Gardner.
McGrath returns to the fold for the Bangladesh series after smashing 154 off 137 deliveries for South Australia against Victoria in the Women's National Cricket League season opener on September 29.
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"It was a relief to score runs because I haven't really contributed to teams I've been playing with for a while," she told reporters at Allan Border Field on Thursday. "Nice to know I can still play cricket, and hopefully a really good confidence boost for me."
McGrath said she had made a few "minor tweaks" to her technique in the off-season, along with a change in mindset. "It's sometimes really hard to find your groove and find that confidence," she said. "For me, it was stripping it right back to basics, what am I good at, homing in on that and just getting a bit of confidence. That knock for South Australia has done me a world of good and I'm feeling in a really good place at the moment."
In a squad featuring Georgia Voll, Phoebe Litchfield, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Gardner, McGrath doesn't expect her domestic century to earn her an elevation in the batting order.
"They [Australia] are the best side, we all know that. We have to be very positive... and we will definitely play our A-game against them"
Nigar Sultana
"That top order's pretty set," she said. "As a guess, I'd probably slot in around seven or eight, but I've got absolutely no idea what the batting order is going to look like. We're pretty lucky with the amount of talent that we've got there, and there's so much batting expertise."
But under new coach David Hemp, Bangladesh captain Nigar Sultana was confident of better results.
"They [Australia] are the best side, we all know that," Sultana said. "We have to be very positive... and we will definitely play our A-game against them."
Neither Australia nor Bangladesh has played an ODI series since April. They have faced each other on five occasions in ODIs and Australia have won each of them.
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