Australia skipper and veteran cricketer Alyssa Healy admitted that her side will have to negotiate the threat posed by Indian spinners when they travel to India for the upcoming ICC Women’s World Cup. If defending champion Australia want to dominate and hold onto their World Cup title for a record-extending eighth time, they will need to counter the spin challenge.
Leading the way for Australia would be their star and dependable batter, Healy, who struck a classy century and scored an unbeaten 137 for Australia A during the third and final One-Day against India A, leading them to a nine-wicket win in Brisbane. Although the century came in a dead rubber and in a consolation win for the home team, as India had already won the three-match One-Day series.
Although Australia lost the series 1-2, Healy looked in supreme touch with the bat and became the highest run getter in her comeback series after she was out of competitive cricket for nearly six months due to a knee injury. Healy had struck a 91-run knock in the previous game, once again displaying her mastery against the India A spin attack that had the likes of Radha Yadav, Minnu Mani, Tanuja Kanwar, and Prema Rawat, who did not play the third match.
“They’ve (India A) got a really spin-heavy attack and we’re going to have to play a lot of that throughout the World Cup as well, a lot of the middle overs will be spin-biased,” Healy told cricket.com.au.
Australia A made a mockery of the spin attack to finish the match in less than 28 overs on Sunday by chasing down a modest 217-run target for the loss of just one wicket. Their coach Dan Marsh too felt that Healy’s performance on Sunday places her in a good space ahead of the World Cup in India.
Healy ready for next challenge
“Alyssa batted well today. All pre-season she’s been looking good and it was just nice to see her get some match practice and put that into place heading into India,” Marsh said.
“She’ll be really happy with her two weeks (with Australia A), will have a nice little rest at home now and be ready to go to India,” added Marsh.
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Earlier, England coach Charlotte Edwards also said they can beat any team, including India, when they travel to the sub-continent to play the marquee World Cup. The statement came after England’s 2-1 loss in both the T20I and ODI series.
“We were massively challenged and that’s how we want women’s cricket to be. It wasn’t a reality check. We know we can beat India. We are going into a World Cup where we know if we play our best, we can beat any team,” Edwards had said to the BBC Stumped podcast.
(With PTI Inputs)
