Australia vice-captain Tahlia McGrath has admitted she is going through the toughest period of her career, low on confidence after a difficult World Cup.
Left without a ODI or T20 World Cup trophy for the first time in eight years, Australia return to the field in February with a home multi-format series against India.
Dumped out of the ODI World Cup by eventual-champions India in the semi-finals last month, Australia's next global event is a T20 World Cup in England in June.
McGrath finds herself at an interesting juncture, having deputised for Alyssa Healy and led the team 15 times since 2022. She and Ashleigh Gardner are the two main options to replace Healy as captain when the wicketkeeper retires.
But at the same time McGrath is open with her own form struggles, after limited opportunities with bat and ball in a World Cup where she scored 69 runs at 13.75.
"Cricket's a pretty brutal game and it's very much based around confidence," McGrath said."And when it's not going your way, the world gets pretty big on you. I definitely underperformed and felt the pressure a bit."
Asked if it had been the toughest period of her career, the 30-year-old indicated it was.
"Probably. I think you add captaincy into that, you add time away from home," McGrath said. "And, obviously, when you lose a World Cup, it's pretty hard to get over as well. It's been a challenging time.
"As much as I was doing everything possible to get us playing some finals cricket [in the WBBL], I was hanging out for a bit of a break."
McGrath opted against nominating for next month's WPL in India, allowing her a rare stint with South Australia before the multi-format series against India.
She has also refrained from picking up a bat since the WBBL ended a fortnight ago, ahead of 50-over cricket resuming for South Australia next month.
"It's properly distancing myself at the moment," she said. "There's not much point in me picking up a bat.
"I wouldn't achieve much. So, it's get away from the game, go for walks along the beach, play a bit of golf, see some friends and family.And just refresh, get that energy back and put in the work after Christmas."
McGrath has spent the past year adapting to playing as a No.7 in ODIs and No.6 in T20Is, leaving her batting in just half of Australia's World Cup games. But the desire remains to go back up the order, where she has previously starred.
"I'm a very team-first person, and love being in the XI and contributing," McGrath said. "I haven't quite nailed that No.7 spot, so I probably need to go away and do a bit of work on that and make that my own first of all. Then once I can do that, try and get myself up the order."