{"id":408059,"date":"2026-01-12T10:05:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:05:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/408059\/"},"modified":"2026-01-12T10:05:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T10:05:13","slug":"wpl-2026-cricket-news-nicola-carey-mumbai-indians-results-video-alex-blackwell-australian-squad-for-t20-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/408059\/","title":{"rendered":"WPL 2026, cricket news, Nicola Carey, Mumbai Indians results, video, Alex Blackwell, Australian squad for T20 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Australian captain Alex Blackwell has encouraged national selectors to recall Nicola Carey ahead of this year\u2019s T20 World Cup, with the all-rounder making an impressive start in her maiden Women\u2019s Premier League campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The 32-year-old, signed by reigning champions the Mumbai Indians at her base price of AU$50,000, cracked 40 (29) and 21 (12) in the franchise\u2019s opening two matches, also taking five wickets with her skiddy seamers.<\/p>\n<p>It comes after the Tasmania representative was named player of last year\u2019s Hundred final having struck an unbeaten 35 from 25 balls for the Northern Superchargers in a seven-wicket victory against the Southern Brave, picked as an injury reserve.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768163050_383_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The only place to stream every match of the 2025\/26 KFC BBL LIVE is on FOX CRICKET, available on Kayo Sports. | New to Kayo? <a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au?pg=cricket&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkcricket-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-cri-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" title=\"kayosports.com.au\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Join now and get your first month for just $1 &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Carey, who made her international debut in 2018, played 23 ODIs and 27 T20Is for Australia before declining a national contract offer in 2023, prioritising her pre-season commitments with the Tigers rather than serving as a fringe player on the road.<\/p>\n<p>But speaking to reporters at the SCG, former Thunder teammate Alex Blackwell, who was inducted into the Cricket NSW Hall of Fame last week, declared that Carey was ready for a long-awaited national recall.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI thought she had a great season, she is match-hardened,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe\u2019s had a wonderful WBBL, never seen her play better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe got the new ball, it\u2019s swinging. I used to throw her the old ball, she was our depth bowler. She\u2019s added the ability to bowl with the new ball and get it swinging. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe bats great, left-handed, wonderful in the field. She\u2019s won lots of titles.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Carey, who featured in Australia\u2019s triumphant 2020 T20 World Cup campaign, was a crucial figure as Tasmania won three consecutive WNCL trophies from 2022-2024, while she helped the Hobart Hurricanes win their maiden WBBL title earlier this summer. <\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere, Australia has lost possession of both major ICC trophies after being knocked out of the semi-finals during the 2024 T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and last year\u2019s 50-over tournament in the subcontinent.<\/p>\n<p>Alyssa Healy\u2019s team only has six 20-over matches scheduled until the next edition of the T20 World Cup, which gets underway in the United Kingdom in June.<\/p>\n<p>\u201d(Carey) is player of the final for the Hundred. If we want to win a World Cup final in a couple of months\u2019 time in England, that final will be at Lord\u2019s,\u201d Blackwell continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has declined an Australian contract in the past, but that was a long time ago now. If I was a selector I would ask her what her views would be and get her in the camp.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nicola Carey and Elyse Villani of the Hurricanes. Photo by Steve Bell\/Getty ImagesSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Australian captain Healy suggested the only thing preventing Carey from returning to the national set-up was her own motivation, adding the team is already stacked with all-rounders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat decision is up to Carey,\u201d Healy responded when asked about Blackwell\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe stepped away from an Aussie contract for a very good reason, to be at home, and didn\u2019t want to tour without playing. I completely understand that. She has been super consistent since making that decision.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShe has been in outstanding form, over in the WPL as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She added: \u201cWe have a thousand all-rounders, but having a lefty in there wouldn\u2019t be a bad option.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the prospect of earning a national recall following Saturday\u2019s WPL match in Mumbai, Carey claimed that she hadn\u2019t given it much thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been really happy doing what I\u2019m doing,\u201d Carey told reporters in the post-match press conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe reason I made that decision (to decline a national contract) was to play more cricket and I\u2019ve been lucky enough to do that. It has been really good for my game and it has been really enjoyable to get consistent game time back home in our domestic stuff. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s wild to think of the little opportunities that I\u2019ve been afforded in the last 12 months even.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Mumbai Indians will next face the Gujarat Giants in Mumbai on Wednesday at 1am AEDT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Australian captain Alex Blackwell has encouraged national selectors to recall Nicola Carey ahead of this year\u2019s T20&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408060,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-408059","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cricket","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}