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Grace Harris prepares to open in T20 World Cup semi-final for injured captain Alyssa Healy

Grace Harris is a valuable replacement. Picture: Francois Nel/Getty Images

Grace Harris headed to the T20 World Cup taking inspiration from Selleys No More Gaps, considering herself a multipurpose hole filler in the all-conquering Australian side.

But now she’s preparing to open the batting in a semi-final against South Africa, and possibly a final, with doubts lingering over the fitness of captain Alyssa Healy days out from Friday morning’s showdown in Dubai.

After making a first-ball duck against New Zealand in her opening appearance of the tournament, Harris was given “about 24 hours” notice she would be taking Healy’s spot against India after the skipper injured her foot.

Harris topscored, making 40 in a crucial victory that took the Aussies’ T20 World Cup winning streak to 14, secured the semi-final spot and kept the reigning champions on track for a fourth-straight title.

Having long not worried about things like selection, Harris, who has played 47 T20s for her country, mainly as a middle-order slogger, said while her elevation to opener came as a surprise, she was ready to embrace every opportunity afforded to her.

“I’m taking my career inspiration at the moment from Selleys No More Gaps multipurpose. I’m just trying to plug holes wherever I can in this team,” she said ahead of the clash in Dubai.

“I know that we speak often about role clarity meetings and I’m just so thankful that Shell (coach Shelley Nitschke) kind of 온라인카지노사이트 gave me a bit of a crack in Bangladesh (in March) before actually coming to a World Cup match and having to really adjust your role clarity.

“I’ve always wanted to be a more versatile player and never wanted just to be pigeonholed as an athlete and tried to make the most of any opportunities that I can get. But I do want to say my golden ball duck against New Zealand must have been so good because I’ve ended up opening the batting. Outstanding.”

“At the moment I just grateful that the selectors had the faith in me to actually open because we’ve got a couple of people that they could have turned to and I could have just resumed my role in that middle order and you know a lot of things could have happened.

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