Wearing the green and gold in England is a far cry from the hospital wards where Georgia Redmayne – sorry, Dr Georgia Redmayne – has spent the vast majority of the last five months.
The wicketkeeper-batter has been combining cricket with her first year post-medical school, working at Tweed Hospital on the News South Wales-Queensland border.
After an intense first two rotations on general medicine and orthopedic surgery, Redmayne had a sudden shift in gears when she received the call from national selector Shawn Flegler, telling her she’d been named in the Australia A squad to tour the United Kingdom this month.
It’s the latest step in what’s been a whirlwind period for Redmayne since the end of WBBL|04.
"I had a very long car trip up to Tweed Heads and then started work that next week," Redmayne told cricket.com.au.
"I’ve been working full-time since then, the first two terms of my internship are done and I’ve lucky been able to fit those in to the off-season and early preseason.
"When I get back from England I’m going to be working part-time, so hopefully that’ll open up a few more hours in my week.
"It’s been a pretty busy time but I’m lucky to be able to do it all."
After graduating from UNSW Medicine last year, Redmayne was required to work her first year as a doctor in the same state. Mindful of how it would need to work in with cricket, she targeted the Tweed Hospital – located close to Gold Coast Airport.
From there, it was a matter of working with her new employers to make sure she’d still be able to train and play while also meeting her medical responsibilities.
"I was pretty up front with fact I’d want to work part-time and play cricket and I gave them a scaffold of what a good year would look like for me," Redmayne said. "They said it was possible from a logistical standpoint.
"I’m really lucky they’ve been so supportive.
"(Then) I went into the office one day and said, ‘is it possible to get four weeks off in June and July?’
"It worked out perfectly and they’re giving me time off for Big Bash as well."
When she returns home at the end of the ‘A’ tour, Redmayne will be heading directly to the emergency department for what promises to be a demanding new chapter in her career. But she’ll also be putting the hard yards into preparing for the summer with her new state, Queensland.
For Redmayne, who spent the last three seasons with Tasmania in the WNCL, it’s a major shift and one that will require her to take on a predominantly batting role, given the presence of fellow keepers Beth Mooney and Josie Dooley in the Queensland ranks.
But after several years of training remotely from Coffs Harbour, where she was based at university, Redmayne is relishing the chance to spend quality time with her new coaches.
"It came about in a bit of a whirlwind … the distance was an issue with Tassie," she said. "I’ve been spending last two seasons at Coffs Harbour (where she was studying) training by myself and trying to get satellite coaches involved, which is quite draining after a while. It just got to a point where it was getting too difficult from both ends to do it distantly, so the decision was made to go elsewhere.
"Queensland have been brilliant, with really flexible training hours and really supportive people. And to be able to be in and around a training squad, maybe not every day, but for longer than being in Tasmania and the access to coaching, that will really help me develop my game."
The 25-year-old is also keen to make the most of the chance to work on her batting as she targets higher honours.
"I think that’s really exciting," Redmayne said. "I’ve been pretty lucky at Tassie, keeping and opening the batting for the last couple of seasons.
"I think if I want to try and develop my game further, I need to change the way I play and take on new challenges, so I think it’ll be a really good year from a batting perspective.
"So playing a different role in the team, maybe a different batting position as well, that opens so many new opportunities.
But first, the Lismore-born left-hander is determined to make the most of the opportunities on offer on the current tour of the UK. The Australia A squad are meeting the England Academy in a series of 50- and 20-over matches, while they’ll also get a chance to don the whites and use the red ball when they play the senior England side in a Test warm-up in Taunton next week.
"I love these tours, they’re a fantastic opportunity to get away with a different group of girls, in a new team with new coaches, playing in different conditions against some pretty good opposition," she said. "From that perspective, life doesn’t really get any better. You’ve got to be grateful because it doesn’t happen to too many people, that’s for sure."
CommBank Australia A Tour of England
Australia A squad: Maitlan Brown, Erin Burns, Maddy Darke, Josie Dooley, Heather Graham, Sammy-Jo Johnson, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Rachel Trenaman, Belinda Vakarewa, Amanda-Jade Wellington
Warm-up match
June 29: England defeat Australia A by 81 runs, Loughborough
One-day matches
July 3: Australia A defeat England Women’s Academy by five wickets, Loughborough
July 5: England Women’s Academy v Australia, Loughborough
July 8: England Women’s Academy v Australia, Loughborough
Three-day tour match
July 12-14: England v Australia A, Millfield School, Street
20-over matches
July 17: England Women’s Academy v Australia, Millfield School, Street
July 19: England Women’s Academy v Australia, Millfield School, Street
This article originally appeared on cricket.com.au