South Australian Tahlia McGrath talks Commonwealth Games gold medals, team spirit and playing with Covid

The timing for a positive Covid test could not have been worse. Cricketer Tahlia McGrath reveals the inside story on the decision to play which landed her a gold medal and global headlines.

As soon as the double line appeared on her rapid antigen test, Australian cricketer Tahlia McGrath called the team doctor.

The 26-year-old had woken minutes earlier with mild cold-like symptoms, the double line appearing almost immediately.

In typical McGrath style though, there was no panicking, no histrionics, just her calm-headed response to call the one person she knew who would know what to do: the Australian Women’s Cricket Team doctor.

McGrath could have been forgiven for panicking; her Covid diagnosis came mere hours before she was due to take to Edgbaston’s cricket field with her team to play India for the Commonwealth Games gold medal.

The timing could not have been worse.

Tahlia McGrath plays a shot in the gold medal playoff at the Commonwealth Games. Picture: Alex Davidson / Getty Images

“I was actually pretty calm because there was nothing I could do about it and I got onto the ‘doc’ straightaway and she was pretty calming as well … saying: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get through this … as long as you feel well enough to play, we’ll get you on the field,” McGrath recalls.

“From there, it was pretty chill for me, I spent the whole day in my room with (medical staff) running all the logistics making everything happen and a big shout out to them because it made my life pretty easy … they did everything necessary to make sure it was safe and within the rules for me to play.”

McGrath sits in the stands on her own waiting to bat in the gold medal match against India. Picture: Alex Davidson / Getty Images

Jess Jonassen and Tahlia McGrath have a Covid-safe wicket celebration. Picture: Darren Staples / AFP

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games had a policy whereby Covid cases were dealt with on a case-by-case basis - harsher than the UK’s scrapping of all Covid protocols, but potentially less harsh than Australia’s blanket quarantine period for positive cases.

As Cricket Australia worked through the logistics, McGrath waited.

“The hardest bit was that it was a 5pm game, so I had to stay in my hotel room all day and couldn’t do my usual game-day prep,” she says.

“I couldn’t see any of my teammates, I missed all the team meetings and was on FaceTime for them.

“I had to get a separate Uber to the ground, use separate change rooms, I couldn’t really warm up with the team, sit separately from them in the grandstand waiting to bat.

“But I got to step onto the field so I wouldn’t change it.”

Players of Team Australia huddle as teammate Tahlia McGrath keeps her distance after testing positive for Covid. Picture: Alex Davidson / Getty Images

McGrath’s personal performance in the match included 0-24 from a two-over spell with the ball and two runs from four balls with the bat after being caught off a Deepti Sharma ball (“That was just a bad shot, not Covid”).

But it was McGrath’s catch in the third over of India’s run chase to dismiss opener Shafali Verma that was pivotal in Australia’s win and as teammates rushed to congratulate her, she put her arms out to stop them coming too close.

Spin bowler Jess Jonassen was an exception, having recovered from Covid about a fortnight, she became a “safe” person for McGrath.

“When I was bowling, I gave her my hat and sunnies and when there was a wicket celebration, she came over to me a few times and bit of a fist pump (and feet tap) to make me feel like I was still a part of it.”

Tahlia McGrath and her teammates celebrate their gold medal win at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Picture: AAP Image / Dave Hunt

The South Australian made global headlines: standing on the podium wearing a mask to accept her gold medal after Australia’s nine-run win.

But McGrath’s Commonwealth Games experience was about much more than a Covid diagnosis.

It was about women’s cricket getting an incredible opportunity to be part of an entire “Team Australia” which meant an enormous amount to her; it was about being at the team’s flag raising ceremony and walking through the Commonwealth Games Village talking to other athletes from across the world, comparing notes on preparation and strategy.

Then, it was about the incredible achievement of the team as a whole to not only win the inaugural T20 women’s Commonwealth Games gold medal, but to leave Birmingham as reigning Games champions while also holding the T20 World Cup and ODI World Cup trophies, and not to mention reigning Ashes and Rose Bowl Series winners against England and New Zealand respectively.

Then, in the days after the win, the team was dealing with another big announcement: that captain Meg Lanning was stepping away from cricket for the foreseeable future.

While McGrath couldn’t comment specifically on Lanning’s decision, she described the team as special.

South Australia’s four-person contingent who competed for Australia in the T20 Women’s competition at the Commonwealth Games: Amanda-Jade Wellington, Darcie Brown, Tahlia McGrath, and Megan Schutt. Picture: Matt Loxton

“There is never a moment in any game where we don’t feel like we can win and we can get out of any situation and that’s a really nice environment to be a part of,” McGrath said.

She is reticent to make a call as to whether athletes playing sport after a Covid diagnosis is the way of the future.

“It’s a tough one,” she muses. “And I think it’s still a grey area, but the fact that everyone reacts differently to COVID is probably the grey area and I think it comes down to the medical team’s discretion.

“My team wouldn’t let me play if I was too ill or not able to perform at my best, so I think it comes down to individual cases.”