LISA STHALEKAR: Alyssa Healy should sit out rest of the T20 World Cup with Australia in fine form for finals

When Alyssa Healy retired hurt whilst batting against Pakistan, I wasn’t quite sure how Australia would fair in their next match.

The unit had already witnessed their most loved teammate, Tayla Vlaeminck suffer an unfortunate dislocation to her right shoulder in the very first over of the T20 World Cup match.

Vlaeminck has had a horrendous spell of bad luck when it comes to injuries, having already come back from two ACL reconstructions, stress fractures to her foot and two left shoulder dislocations.

Considering her poor run of injuries, it would have no doubt upset the camp. Though, the most pleasing thing I witnessed, was the Australian team in a huddle, as she was taken off the field.

It looked like the most experienced player, Ellyse Perry, was addressing the group.

No doubt she had words of wisdom which gave the players a chance to switch back on to the task at hand.

Cricketers do have a wonderful ability to compartmentalise things, remember each ball as an event and you can’t afford to get hung up on the past too much. You must look forward.

Then to lose the skipper as well made it a very bad night at the office for the Aussies, despite the win.

What concerned me the most was Healy’s reaction. She showed considerable amount of distress as she was hobbling around on her right foot.

I have known Healy since she became part of the junior pathway programs at NSW as a 12 year old.

During that time, I have seen her play with broken fingers, a lump on her head, and bat with terrible stomach cramps in India. Though, I have never seen her show that much pain.

My attention quickly turned to who could open the batting for Australia. Grace Harris was an obvious choice as she does it for the Brisbane Heat in the WBBL, with last season scoring 501 runs, with a strike rate of 165.9.

Probably like for like in terms how she goes about her cricket, just like Healy, attack.

Who could wicket keep? Beth Mooney is pretty handy, is probably the understatement of the century and would be the first-choice keeper in any other side.

Who would captain? Oh wait, Tahlia McGrath the vice-captain can, who has just won back-to- back WBBL titles with the Adelaide Strikers.

And in terms of Vlaeminck, well that role had been shared between herself and Darcie Brown throughout this tournament and pre-series versus New Zealand. I expected Brown to come back in.

The final group stage match was against India, a side that has really challenged the green and gold in recent tournaments and at times should have won.

India needed a victory against Australia to qualify for the semifinals, so they were going to come out even harder.

What unfolded was the best game that the tournament had seen so far.

Harris opened the batting, and she was Australia’s highest run scorer (40).

Beth Mooney had a clean sheet behind the stumps and when a keeper goes unnoticed, they have done their job.

As for MacGrath, who was captaining her first game in a World Cup, she looked at home out in the role.

The right bowling changes were being made and she had great support from Ellyse Perry and Ashleigh Gardner when the game got close. Though she remained as calm as ever.

So, what does Australia do in the semifinal against South Africa? A rematch of the ICC T20 World Cup Final in 2023. Do they bring back Healy?

Well, the official release about her injury from Cricket Australia on Sunday was, “Healy is unavailable for tonight’s game. She will be assessed over the coming days, and should Australia qualify for the semifinals, her availability will be determined in due course.”

While the release gave us no indication of what type of injury it is, we can only hazard a guess that Healy is weighing up her options. Play injured with the assistance of injections to numb the pain and assist with movement or to sit this one out, allowing the same eleven to continue?

Given what I saw in Australia’s last match, I don’t think there is even a need for her to play for the rest of the tournament, should Australia make it into the final.

Australia has wonderful depth and quality to cover even their skipper missing out. Heavy investment by Cricket Australia into the domestic program and pathways has ensured that the factory line of talent replaces one star with another.

Plus, this group has already gone through a level of growth after the shock departure of Meg Lanning, Australia’s most successful captain. The game does not stop once a player has moved on or is injured.

No Healy, no worries for the Aussies.

Though the hardest thing for Healy will be sitting on the sideline and not being out in the middle, something Perry can share with her, having done it in 2020.