Australia captain Alyssa Healy's niggling knee will prevent her from keeping wicket in the ODI series against New Zealand.
But she is hopeful she can play as a batter in all three games to ready herself for the Ashes in January. Beth Mooney will continue filling in for Healy behind the stumps, starting in Thursday's series-opener at Basin Reserve in Wellington.
"I won't be wicketkeeping this series ... but there's not a lot of cricket leading into the Ashes, so for me, it's an opportunity to try and get back on the park, as a batter, and try and find some runs more importantly," Healy said on Wednesday.
"I feel like I've hardly played any cricket for the last eight or nine months and there's a good opportunity to do that. The knee's tracking well, it's just a day-by-day thing, and we'll just assess as we go."
Healy's frustrating run with injury opened the door for Australia to debut Georgia Voll in the recent home series against India. Voll, who hit scores of 46 not out, 101 and 26 in her first three ODIs, is set to be the unlucky player to drop out with Healy returning.
"We've been transitioning for a little while, getting some youth in the side," Healy said. "But obviously forced hand with some injuries at the moment. I think we're in a really great space, the depth in Australian cricket is really strong.
"And everyone who keeps stepping in, to take my job in particular, seems to make my runs or take wickets, so we're in a good space at the moment."
New Zealand will enter the battle for the Rose Bowl on a high after winning the T20 World Cup in October with this their first home cricket since that historic moment. However, they have not beaten Australia in a bilateral one-day series 1999 or in an ODI since 2017.
"I just remind them we pumped them in the round game, but they're okay to have the trophy," Healy said. "There is an air of disappointment around our group after the World Cup, I don't think there is any way to beat around that.
"I think the discussions that have come post that have been really promising, and where we want to take our cricket moving forward and how we want to play our style of game, as sad as that may seem."
New Zealand are in danger of missing direct qualification for next year's ODI World Cup with this three-match series their last of the current Women's Championship. They are currently sixth in the table with two automatic spots to claim alongside hosts India and already-qualified Australia, England and South Africa. Bangladesh and West Indies, who are below them, still have matches to play.
A crowd of 4000 is expected at the Basin Reserve on Thursday although the forecast is poor before being more promising for the matches on Saturday and Monday.
"It's well overdue [beating Australia], but we also know the challenge we're up against and we know that we're going to have to be at our best to win at least two games to get that cup back," New Zealand captain Sophie Devine said. "This is our first opportunity to play back up at home as T20 world champions…so now we just need the Wellington weather gods to play ball as well."