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AAP
AAP
Jasper Bruce

Australia's bowlers to juggle WBBL with Test prep

Kim Garth is among Australia's bowlers who'll mix in practice with a red ball during the WBBL. (Dean Lewins/AAP PHOTOS)

Australia's bowlers are poised to continue taking on extra work during the upcoming Women's Big Bash League in preparation for their day-night Test against India.

The ninth iteration of the WBBL begins on Thursday with a clash between the Melbourne Stars and Sydney Sixers and will not conclude until December 2.

Australia are set to fly to India a matter of days later to prepare for a multi-format series that will feature a Test match as well as ODIs and T20Is. 

Hard-and-fast dates for the series have not yet been announced but AAP understands the Test will be played before Christmas, followed by the white-ball legs.

The Australian women's team is accustomed to keeping a packed white-ball schedule but backing up into Test matches poses a different challenge.

The longest form of the game is much rarer in the women's international sphere than in the men's, with only 11 Tests played worldwide in the last decade.

Veteran allrounder Ellyse Perry has the most Test caps of any current Australian player with only 11 to her name.

The Australians began working with the pink ball during training for the white-ball series against West Indies that concluded with an eight-wicket win for the hosts in Melbourne on Saturday.

That work is set to continue into the WBBL, for which all of Australia's bowlers in the West Indies series are contracted.

"It's hard coming off the back of a six-week T20 tournament to then go straight into a Test match," said fast-bowler Kim Garth.

"We had a sit-down as a team the other day.

"They've kind of mapped out our loads and potentially bowling extra during the week (in the WBBL) and doing all that kind of stuff I suppose with one eye on that Test match.

"In terms of pink ball, I suppose it's just (about) getting them out every couple of training sessions and trying to get used to that.

"It's a tricky one with WBBL happening now but the SSSM (Cricket Australia's Sport Science Sport Medicine) staff are all over it, we've got GPS these days so there's certainly no hiding from it."

Garth, who made her Test debut during this year's Ashes, is keen to push her selection case in India after ousting spinner Jess Jonassen from the side during the West Indies series.

"I've only played one Test match so I guess I'm still trying to work it out in terms of the best way to approach it, but fingers crossed I get another opportunity with that pink ball in India," she said.

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