AUS W vs IND W 2026: ‘I’d made peace if it didn’t happen’ – Nicola Carey reflects on her return to the national side

Nicola Carey had come to terms with the possibility that she might never represent Australia again, but she believes she has returned to the national setup as a significantly improved cricketer after prioritising her domestic career. She was capped 50 times across ODIs and T20Is and declined a Cricket Australia central contract in 2023.

Instead, she committed fully to Tasmania’s domestic system at state level and in the Women’s Big Bash League with the Hobart Hurricanes, even if it meant regularly serving as a reserve on tours or in extended squads. After three years, her perseverance has been rewarded with a recall to Australia’s squad for both white-ball formats during India’s multi-format tour, which begins with the first T20I at the SCG on February 15.

“I’d made peace that if it [representing Australia] didn’t happen, I was so okay with it. It was literally just about playing more games of cricket, and that was just the path that I thought was the best way to go about it for me. I didn’t really have any goals or expectations of where that would get to in terms of making this team or that team, or anything like that. I just wanted to go back, try and get better, and just go with it and see where it takes me. It’s bizarre that it brought me back here, but it’s kind of cool at the same time,” said Carey as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

“Maybe that’s the risk you take, potentially never being able to play again, and I was really okay with that, because I guess I had other things I wanted to achieve in terms of seeing where I could get with my cricket,” she added.

Carey was an unused squad member at the 2018 T20 World Cup in the West Indies but featured in five matches at the 2020 edition, including the iconic final at the MCG. She was also part of Australia’s squad for the 2022 ODI World Cup, making one appearance, before being omitted from the squad for the 2023 T20 World Cup, a decision that came shortly before she made her career-defining call.

“I fully understood why I wasn’t playing cricket. It’s just the nature of the game, isn’t it? The team’s elite, it still is. It’s really hard to crack into the XI, it still is. I probably felt like … I was sort of plateauing. I probably wasn’t that good anyway, so I needed to get better, and I guess I had to think about what was the best way to do that for me, and that was the option that I went with,” said Carey.

“I don’t regret the decision that I made. It’s definitely helped my game, and I have really enjoyed the last little period, where I’ve been sort of embedded in the Tassie set up, as the WBBL, or the Tigers stuff, and it’s been really enjoyable,” she added.

Carey has enjoyed a consistent run of form with the Hobart Hurricanes in the WBBL, playing a key role in guiding them to their maiden title this season. An improvement in her T20 batting strike rate, coupled with her emergence as an effective new-ball option, has marked significant progress in her all-round game. She also returned to The Hundred in 2025, having first featured in the competition in 2022, and secured her maiden Women’s Premier League contract with the Mumbai Indians.

“When you’re on tour, it’s a lot of top-up training. It’s get what you need to be ready for the game. If you want to work on something, it’s probably a little bit more difficult, which makes complete sense. The priority is the playing XI, getting them ready. [But] then I used to find it really tricky coming back to Big Bash. I used to feel really underdone because there was usually [a series] before it. You’d come back and you’d think, they’re welcoming back their Australian players, you’re meant to be leading the way,” said Carey.

“Whereas now, you have a huge block of training, to the point where you’re like, I’m sick of training, let’s start playing some games. So I’ve gone into the last few seasons feeling ready to go. Whether it comes off or not, it’s a different story,” she added.

Carey admitted she was surprised to receive the message from national selector Shawn Flegler, but she did not require any persuasion to accept the opportunity. She is aware that there may again be occasions when she finds herself carrying drinks, yet she remains fully committed to contributing in any role required.

“It didn’t take any convincing to come back. I feel like I was an okay player [previously], but I feel like I probably didn’t really know my game that well. I definitely needed to work on a heap of things. I feel like now I’m in a place where I’ve been able to work on things. There was a bit of work that I actually really needed to do to work out what that looked like for me as a player. So, I feel like I’ve done that,” Carey concluded.