Australia remain the team to beat ahead of Women's T20 World Cup in UAE

Alyssa Healy now captain of country that has won six of the eight tournaments held so far

The team captains take questions at a press conference at Dubai International Stadium ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup. Chris Whiteoak / The National

For the second time in the space of three years, a T20 World Cup will be hosted in the UAE with the home national team absent.

The women’s version of that event starts in Sharjah on Thursday afternoon when Bangladesh face Scotland.

Bangladesh are the nominal home team for the 10-team tournament. They had been scheduled to host the event but it was switched in August after teams expressed security concerns due to the civil unrest in Bangladesh at the time.

It means a World Cup on neutral territory, which is similar to what happened with the men’s equivalent in 2021, when that was switched to UAE and Oman from India because of the effects of the pandemic.

As with the men’s national team back then, the actual host country will be conspicuous by their absence. Esha Oza’s side came within a few runs of qualifying for this event, only to have their hopes dashed by Sri Lanka.

Nigar Sultana Joty, the Bangladesh captain, said her side are still committed to giving their compatriots something to celebrate, even if it won’t be happening on home soil.

“It was pretty disappointing initially, but we are very professional,” Joty said of the decision to switch the tournament from Bangladesh.

“It is about not only us but everyone in Bangladesh, and our families and friends. We had been preparing for that moment, and now that we are here we want to do something that will give the fans something to cheer.

“I am expecting a lot of spectators because we are playing in Sharjah and there are a lot of Bangladeshis there. Playing in this kind of event, hopefully there are lots of people who will come along and support.”

The forecast for the opening day of competition is for highs of 37 degrees and zero per cent chance of rain. However, it is impossible to be too sure of that with Scotland involved.

The first time a full international match was ever washed out in Sharjah was when Scotland’s men came to play a one-day international there.

Earlier this year, the huge storms that buffeted the UAE coincided with Scotland’s arrival to play a warm-up series ahead of the Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in Abu Dhabi.

They were even impacted by a sudden deluge ahead of their warmup fixture against Sri Lanka at The Sevens earlier this week, although at least the ground recovered in time for that game to go ahead.

Two days previous to that, the Scots had enjoyed a shock win over Pakistan, suggesting the qualifiers could pose a threat, despite starting the competition as the lowest-ranked side in it.

If previous history is anything to go by, though, everyone else could just be playing for second best behind Australia.

The Australians have won six of the eight Women’s T20 World Cups that have taken place. They are going for a fourth in a row this time around, although if they do lift the trophy at Dubai International Stadium on October 20, it will be with someone new in charge.

Alyssa Healy is their captain now, after Meg Lanning led the side to the previous three wins, including in South Africa at the start of last year.

“You don’t come here to defend a title, that is not what a World Cup is about. You come here to win it,” Healey said.

“We are here with that approach. We are excited to get under way. Our pool is a tricky one, and you have to get past a lot of these teams to win the trophy. It is a challenge we are excited for.

“The whole tournament in general is about adapting the quickest. It will be the side that does that the best throughout the tournament which gets the job done. Hopefully we can do it.”