Poulton recalled for India series

Opener Leah Poulton has regained her place in Australia's squad for the upcoming series against India, which starts in Sydney in late October. Poulton and Lauren Ebsary were named in the 14-player squad with Sarah Andrews and Renee Chappell dropped from the group that won the Rose Bowl in New Zealand earlier this year.

The India series begins with a Twenty20 international on October 28, followed by five ODIs in Sydney and Canberra. The games will be Poulton's first chance to impress at international level since she was dropped following the quadrangular tournament in India in March 2007.

A powerful opener, Poulton announced her arrival on the international scene with a brilliant century against New Zealand in Brisbane in October 2006 and she will be desperate to return to that sort of form against India. Ebsary, a Western Australia allrounder, is yet to make her international debut.

The series will also be Australia's first under their new coach Richard McInnes, who was formerly the performance analyst with the Australia men's team. McInnes took the reins of the women's squad in July and he said the India games would be an important step along the way as Australia prepared for next year's World Cup and World Twenty20 tournaments.

"We've been working and training hard in the last couple of months," McInnes said. "We had a great training camp here in August which provided me with a good opportunity to engage with all the players. Since the Rose Bowl series in March we haven't played a lot of cricket so this series will be a great opportunity for the team to have a solid hit-out against quality opposition in the lead-up to the WNCL getting underway in November."

Australia squad Alex Blackwell, Shelley Nitschke, Karen Rolton (capt), Leah Poulton, Lisa Sthalekar, Kate Blackwell, Lauren Ebsary, Jodie Fields (wk), Leonie Coleman (wk), Sarah Edwards, Ellyse Perry, Emma Sampson, Kirsten Pike, Delissa Kimmince.