ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2024, Captain's Preview - Sophie Devine "We have been really specific and clear with how we want to play in the UAE"

The ICC Women's T20 World Cup has done a fantastic job of igniting public interest in women's cricket, and the forthcoming competition offers yet another chance to promote our game.

The T20 format has undoubtedly influenced the growth of women's cricket, and the chance to play for your nation at a World Cup is an incredible experience.

Yes, winning the trophy is our ultimate goal. Our goal is to be proficient in every game we play, competitive, and condition-adaptive.

We want to make the most of the circumstances presented by the new location. Since returning from the UK, we have undoubtedly put in a lot of work in the last six to eight weeks to improve our abilities.

When it comes to how we want to play and what we believe would be effective under those circumstances, we have been quite clear and precise. We thought back on our prior practices and games, evaluated our performance, and paid close attention to the playing circumstances.

Spin bowling has received a lot of attention, which I'm sure everyone will pay attention to, but for us, strike rate and scoring shot percentages are more important. We want to be really active at the crease with the bat because we know that the circumstances could be difficult and that every run will be significant. Conversely, we want to be as precise as we can with the ball. Our main focus has been to stay on stumps and force the opposition to play their hardest strokes.

It dates back quite a while—we played there in a series against Pakistan in Sharjah back in 2017. We are eager to play there, but it will be difficult for all the sides to adjust because there hasn't been much cricket played in the UAE.

Of course, the heat and the weather will play a significant role, but that would have been the case whether we were in Bangladesh or the United Arab Emirates.

My favorite T20 World Cup memory from the past occurred in India in 2016 when we defeated Australia, which was also on the subcontinent. Even though it took us a while to get to the venue, we just went out and put them through some early problems before pulling off an impressive victory over a team that was playing at a high level. For me, that is definitely up there.

This time, we'll play Australia in the pool stage once more, and it should be a difficult pool. It will be difficult to advance through the pool when Sri Lanka, Australia, and India are involved, but we are excited about our possibilities to play against those kinds of teams.

We are particularly excited about the chance to play against elite teams that will be fighting for a spot in the World Cup's conclusion. In one-off games, as in World Cup cricket, everyone starts at zero.