Despite having 105 T20Is to her name, the writing was on the wall for Jonassen when she was left out of the squad to tour Bangladesh earlier this year and it was always going to be difficult to find her way back in amid a strong spin group that features Georgia Wareham, Sophie Molineux, Alana King and Ash Gardner.
The only previous occasion that Jonassen has missed a World Cup was the 2013 ODI edition when she was ruled out through injury after originally being selected.
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It is Molineux’s return to fitness after a couple of injury-hit seasons, alongside the selectors’ preference to have two legspinners in the squad, that played a big part in forcing Jonassen out. She lost her spot in the T20I team last summer after being given some heavy punishment by Hayley Matthews at North Sydney Oval and has not played an ODI since last July in Ireland.
“I’m disappointed for Jono myself. I have played a lot of cricket with her over the years and know exactly what she can contribute to the Australian team in big tournaments and how clutch she can be. I still see a big future for her in the Aussie side, there’s always a niggle or whatnot around [during] the summer, and she’ll still be around this summer no doubt.”
Jonassen’s absence is another part of the subtle evolution of the Australia side over the last couple of years which has seen the retirement of Rachael Haynes and Meg Lanning, although a senior core of Healy, Gardner, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry and Megan Schutt remains.
“We’ve seen a fair bit of change,” Healy said. “You even look at the last 12-18 months, the turnover we’ve had, we’ve lost over 700 games of experience. It’s got to come at some point in time, [but] fortunately there’s still a few of us old birds still floating around who can hopefully impart some wisdom on how to win tournaments. Think the youth in our group is really exciting and hopefully we can just help mentor or lead them in the right direction because think the youth in our squad is going to win this World Cup for us.”
Even if it doesn’t happen over the next couple of months, it’s an enticing prospect for the Ashes, which will take place in January.
“I’d love to see it,” Healy said of the two playing together. “We are so blessed with ample allrounders that I think we can play around a little bit with our fast-bowling attack. Think having those two in our side is huge point of difference, especially in [the] conditions potentially we are going to get, having real pace in your side is a real advantage.
“We’ll have to wait and see what the make-ups of the side are but it’s really exciting for the future that those two are in the squad in together and hopefully we can get them firing at the same time.”
Andrew McGlashan is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo
Source: ESPN Crickinfo