CRICKET: Those lonely winter days are finally over

HAMISH BIDWELL
No disrespect to Scott Briasco, but Sara McGlashan is sick of the sight of him.
After months of one-on-one indoor training with the Central Districts director of coaching, tomorrow can't come soon enough for McGlashan, when she'll depart for Brisbane, along with her White Ferns teammates, for the annual Rose Bowl Series against Australia.
Without a fellow White Fern within a four-hour drive, it's been Briasco who's filled the role of surrogate training partner, hurling down countless throw-downs, as Taradale-based McGlashan does her best to prepare for the women's equivalent of the Ashes.
"It's extremely early to be playing the Rose Bowl, which is usually at the end of the season. So it feels odd to be going into it without any cricket," said McGlashan on Saturday.
"The team's had three regional camps but, apart from that, it's just been me and Scott Briasco. It's definitely been a bit of a challenge, compared to when I was studying in Christchurch, where you had the High Performance Centre at Lincoln and the Canterbury Indoor Centre and plenty of teammates around.
"The Rose Bowl starts on the 20th, so we've got eight days and a Twenty20 game prior to that, so once I've had a few nets and adjusted to the pace and bounce, I'll be feeling a lot better in terms of confidence."
Even so, walking straight out of a New Zealand winter and into a five-match series against the world champions is a fairly big ask. But with former Australian coach Steve Jenkin now firmly ensconced in the White Ferns' camp, McGlashan says the team is feeling as bullish as she can remember.
"Having Steve has been extremely valuable, just in terms of the approach to the game," said the 24-year-old.
"He's brought a bit of that Aussie side to it, encouraging us to be on that borderline between confidence and cockiness. It's not quite arrogance, more about the self-belief to win and the expectation to win as well.
"We lost to them in the World Cup (last season) and in the lead-up to it as well, so it's been a while since the girls had a win against them. I think you'd have to say that we're the underdog, but sometimes that can be good because, from the outside, there's not that expectation.
"But, for us, there's no better tour to go on and nothing better than beating them, so that drive is definitely there."