Vice-captain Rachael Haynes has been ruled out for the remainder of Australia’s multi-format series against India after suffering a hamstring strain.
Haynes sustained the injury in the second innings of the third One-Day International, pulling up in discomfort after fielding the ball.
Australian coach Matthew Mott confirmed Haynes will stay with the squad until the end of the first day of the Test, which starts on Thursday, and then return to Sydney to be with her pregnant partner.
“It's pretty tough,” said Mott. “I had dinner with her last night. She's devastated, obviously, the Test matches don't come around too often.
“She's a key member of our squad so thoughts are with her at the moment.”
Alyssa Healy will take on the vice-captaincy for the day-night Test at Metricon Stadium but Haynes’ absence opens up the question of who will open the batting with Healy.
Beth Mooney, who moved up the order when Haynes missed the second ODI after being struck on the elbow during a nets session and who opened in the last Test played in Australia, also left the field in the third ODI with “hamstring awareness”, but Mott said the decision to take her off was a precautionary one.
"Beth is pretty good," he said.
"She was very sensible the other day.
“She felt something and with all the workload that she has been under, we felt that even after that hundred and the quick turnaround she was a high risk.
“And she flagged it quite early and I think the medical staff are very comfortable with where she is at.
“She'll train today and I expect she will have a pretty light day tomorrow and be ready for the Test."
It may also open the door for the highly-regarded Queensland opener Georgia Redmayne to make her Test debut.
Another injury concern for Australia is the fitness of Georgia Wareham.
The leg-spinner sustained a quadriceps injury in the second ODI and missed the next match, although Mott was optimistic of her chances of fully recovering by Thursday.
"Georgia is ticking all the boxes for her return to play," said Mott.
"Once again very sensible around that, she felt something quite early, got treatment on it, and has been doing everything she can to be right.
“Personally, I really hope she gets through it after the disappointment of missing out on the last Test we played.
“She's a key member.
“No matter what the wicket serves up she's a wicket-taker, and she's an incredibly good thing for this team.”
Mott also indicated Ellyse Perry will open the bowling despite struggles with her rhythm.
The allrounder has looked rusty after two weeks of hard quarantine and a slight adjustment to her run-up that seems to have affected her usually impeccable lines.
“I think Elise would be the first to admit she hasn't really hit the ground with her bowling as yet,” Mott said.
“I think you’ve got to keep perspective on these things, anytime you put down tools for fourteen days leading into a key series, you're going to have to have time to work through things and she’s certainly cognisant of what she needs to do.
“I think it's just a matter of we haven't really had time to drill it down in the nets.
“Ben Sawyer, the fast bowling coach, has had a lot of conversations with her, he knows her really well.
“They have worked on the alignments, it's more to the left-handers than anything, I think her bowling to right handers has been good and she's swinging the ball, so there's a lot to like about it.
“Obviously in a Test match she should be able to get into some big spells.
“She swings the ball up front so I think she's really looking forward to changing formats, clearly with the bat she's been a revelation in this format so I think she goes in very excited about what’s ahead of her.”
After the disappointment of the Test being moved from the WACA, Mott was hopeful the drop-in pitch at Metricon Stadium will be conducive to a pace attack that could feature the likes of quicks Stella Campbell or Darcie Brown.
"It looks really good," Mott said.
"One of the things we were hoping for is grass and there is plenty of grass on it, so that's exciting for everyone, for both teams, I guess.
“It is a couple of days out, obviously. I think they will give it a shave before the Test match actually starts, but it's a good sign.
“I think in the last couple of years in women's Tests, all the coaches have been asking for pace in the wicket and grass on it. So it's going to be a fantastic surface for both teams."
Mott spoke just hours after Tasmania pulled out of their Sheffield Shield match against Queensland in Brisbane, in the wake of a small Covid-19 outbreak of four locally acquired cases, but all indications are that the Test will go ahead as planned.
“I think we're all concerned for our families and friends throughout Queensland about the impact of it all,” said Mott. “But to be honest, it doesn't change a lot of what we're doing here.
“I think it's business as usual.
“We've been probably on a heightened level of risk for a while anyway.
“Obviously it'll impact, potentially, the ability to have crowds here, which could be disappointing, but in the whole scheme of things you just want the best for people in Queensland to to be able to get through and hopefully they can get on top of that really quickly.”
