Cardiff: Amid the Southern Stars' awful batting across the Twenty20 series to end the women's Ashes came the emergence of a player likely to be persisted with for years to come.
Grace Harris gave a hint of her potential in Friday's match against England when she blasted a long six off spinner Dani Hazell. On Monday at Cardiff, the 21-year-old cleared the boundary thrice, including one off England's fast bowler Katherine Brunt.
While Stars captain Meg Lanning will, once the glow of the Ashes victory fades, have to analyse what went wrong with the bat she was thrilled with the cameo of 24 from 14 deliveries from Harris, who was a late inclusion in the squad in place of injured all-rounder Delissa Kimmince.
"I think today she showed she's got something that no other person in women's cricket around the world has. She can come in and hit sixes for fun," said Lanning, after the Stars' total of 111 was comfortably reached by England with five wickets and three overs to spare.
"She's certainly got a lot to learn and is very inexperienced, but she's got a pretty good attitude to cricket and life and enjoys herself . . . she's a great person to have around the squad as well. She's an X-factor for us. Hopefully she can improve a lot over the next couple of months.
"She's certainly going to be important for us in the T20 format going forward - and not just that format. I think she can play all formats for Australia moving forward."
With female players typically struggling to clear the boundary anywhere near as often as their male counterparts Harris' trait all but ensures she will be taken to next year's World Twenty20. The captain said it was "absolutely" possible that both she and Kimmince, who is also renowned for her big hitting, could play in the same team
"Delissa offers us some great variation with the ball, and also with the bat - she's a very different batter to everyone else in the squad," she said. "There's certainly spots up for grabs, and those two players certainly are in our plans for the future."
While Australia batted poorly in each Twenty20 match Lanning, who was promoted to opener for the final match, said she retained confidence in their line-up.
"We played around with the batting order a little bit, trying to find the right balance. We probably haven't found it yet - but we haven't played a lot of T20 cricket in the past year or so," she said.
"Our batting has been our strength throughout the past couple of years, so it's there. We just need to rediscover that, the way you need to play in T20 cricket. I'm sure it'll click back soon."
As the Stars players and coaches dispersed after the women's Ashes series, many of them bound for post-tour holidays, Lanning declared it was for a break they had well and truly earned.
"It's certainly nice to be having a break after this series. It's not just the seven-week tour, it's the three-month preparation you put in as well," she said. "It's been one of the funnest and enjoyable tours I've been on, but I think we're ready for a bit of a break."
Jesse Hogan is covering the women's Ashes with the support of Cricket Australia
