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\n Ashleigh Gardner (l) and Tahlia McGrath (r) lead the race to be a future captain. (Steve Markham\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Profound change is coming to the powerful Australian women’s cricket team, but Belinda Clark sees no cause for alarm.<\/p>\n
The iconic former national captain, freshly elevated to legend status at the Sport Australia Hall Of Fame, likewise sees the World Cup semi-final loss to India last month as more a case of bad timing.<\/p>\n
The Australian women have dominated world cricket for several years, but captain Alyssa Healy and fellow star Ellyse Perry are 35.<\/p>\n
When they retire it will be a generational shakeup, similar to when Meg Lanning suddenly retired two years ago and handed over the leadership role to Healy.<\/p>\n
Clark said at Monday night’s Hall Of Fame function there are several strong captaincy candidates in the team, led by vice-captain Tahlia McGrath and Ashleigh Gardner.<\/p>\n
She also agreed some “once-in-a-generation” players will soon have to be replaced.<\/p>\n
“There’s a lot of great young talent, but you don’t replace that experience quickly,” Clark told AAP.<\/p>\n
“We need to be a little bit patient with that, as it rolls around.<\/p>\n
“Depending on how adventurous the selectors want to be, I think there are a number of (captaincy) candidates.<\/p>\n
“It depends how they want to approach this next phase. Those two (McGrath and Gardner) are probably at the front of the queue.”<\/p>\n
\n Ashleigh Gardner (l) and Tahlia McGrath (r) lead the race to be a future captain. (Steve Markham\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n
Clark noted Annabel Sutherland, Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Wareham and Sophie Molineux are younger teammates who have captaincy experience.<\/p>\n
Of those, only Molineux is not currently captaining a WBBL team.<\/p>\n
“So they do have choice. I come back to great teams cope with these transitions and they have senior players who jump in and help where required,” Clark added.<\/p>\n
“Wherever they go, I’m confident they have capability inside the group to manage it.”<\/p>\n
It would be no surprise if the new captain was to offer Clark a coffee so the incoming skipper could pick one of the sharpest minds in cricket.<\/p>\n
If asked for advice, Clark would stress the need to form a strong relationship with head coach Shelley Nitschke, and also be prepared to delegate.<\/p>\n
“Use the people around you and you’ll be fine – and make sure your own performances stay pretty schmick as well,” Clark said.<\/p>\n
She said the team would be in the midst of a post-World Cup review, but added Australia’s semi-final loss was not the end of the world and India’s title win would prove beneficial to the game.<\/p>\n
“We just had a bad game at the wrong time,” Clark said.<\/p>\n
“From a world game perspective, it’s great that India (won) – people have been waiting for and wanting this moment.<\/p>\n
“It will open up a whole range of opportunities for the sport. When we look back in 10 years’ time, we’ll say ‘that was a watershed moment’.<\/p>\n
“It’s just a little bit hard to swallow now, from an Australian perspective.”<\/p>\n