Alana King remains one of the best spinners in women's cricket - and the brilliant leggie is enjoying every opportunity in the Caribbean to remind Australia's selectors of that as another World Cup looms.
Following her match-winning return of 3-14 against the West Indies in her first T20 international for a year on Thursday, King outlined how she's determined to display her versatility on this Caribbean jaunt, showing why she can be a threat at any stage of any innings in the short format.
She's making no assumptions about selection for the World Cup in England in June, but her satisfied smile after the victory in the first T20I was that of a 30-year-old who's confident her enduring quality must surely earn her a nod.
Asked how enjoyable it was to send the selectors this reminder that she's not just a longer-format maestro, King shrugged: "Oh, look, I can only control what I can control, and when given that opportunity, I'm glad I can take it, and hopefully keep getting those opportunities and putting my hand up."
She raised her hand in convincing fashion in St Vincent on Thursday, being introduced during the power play, quickly getting rid of Windies danger woman Hayley Matthews and later producing a mid-innings, double-wicket maiden to effectively shut the door on the hosts as they slumped to a 43-run loss.
"No doubt, the selectors know what I can do, and I think the team knows what I can do, and it's always nice to contribute to good wins and play a real versatile role," said King, who believes playing for Perth Scorchers in the WBBL has helped turn her into a "three-phase" bowler.
"I'm trying not to be just a middle-overs bowler. I want to take the hard overs on, and to do it in a power play against a pretty strong West Indian batting line-up, I'm pretty happy with that."
She'll get another chance on Saturday in the second match, with the Australians determined to sharpen up their act in the field after dropping six catches during their opening win.
Beth Mooney, player-of-the-match after her 55-ball 79, noted: "We're human, and sometimes these things happen. First time playing at this venue and lights are always a little bit different everywhere you go.
"So there'll be some disappointed players in there with the catches that went down, but at the end of the day, they didn't cost us."
