‘Didn’t help me’: Aussie cricket power couple’s unwanted history

Alyssa Healy joined one of cricket’s most unwanted clubs in the West Test but at least she’s already well acquainted with one of the members.

Alyssa Healy has made an unwanted slice of history after she and husband Mitchell Starc became the first married couple to each be dismissed for 99 in a Test match.

The Australian captain put her side in the box seat in the one-off Test in Perth against South Africa, after making the bold decision to bowl first despite a heatwave over in the west.

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But it proved to be a masterstroke as Australia decimated the visitors for just 76.

While Australia lost its first three wickets in quick time to slump to 3/12, Healy and Beth Mooney (78) combined for a 155-run stand to put the hosts in the box seat.

While Mooney fell early in the final session, Healy appeared set to make her first Test hundred, only to chip a return catch to Delmi Tucker with four minutes left in the first day.

It was a brutal blow as with another run, Healy would have had centuries in all three formats.

But it does mean that she now shares a highest Test score with Starc.

Starc slammed his 99 in the third Test of Australia’s 2013 tour of India. It remains his highest score in top-flight cricket.

It's really not the record you want. Photo: Getty Images and Twitter

On Channel 7 ahead of day two, after running away from the commentators, Healy was asked about the conversation between the pair around the number 99.

“I think he said ‘if there’s anything that I can remotely relate to in our cricketing careers, it was yesterday’, so I guess that didn’t help me one bit,” Healy said laughing.

There have been 78 instances of players being dismissed for 99 in men’s Tests, with another five in women’s Tests.

And Healy has great company, joining Aussies Jill Kennare (1984), Jess Jonassen (2015), Ellyse Perry (2023) in the inauspicious club.

There are 23 Aussie men who have fallen on 99, while Steve Smith, Steve Waugh and Matthew Elliott are in the rarer club of having fallen for 199.

In the 99 club are the likes of Keith Miller, Arthur Morris, Ian Chappell, Dean Jones, Mark Waugh, Ricky Ponting, Shane Warne and Starc, while Greg Blewett and Simon Katich each did it twice.

Asked about the unlikelihood two halves of the one couple would both have Test 99s, Healy said: “It is a bizarre thing, I wish it wasn’t us. I wish it was another married couple but that’s okay.

“Chris Matthews said to me this morning ‘everyone gets a hundred, not everyone gets a 99’ so I guess that’s the way you’ve got to look at it.”

Eerily, the 99 was in both of their ninth Test matches.

Only man to score 99 in 9th Test
Mitchell Starc

Only woman to score 99 in 9th Test
Alyssa Healy

Coincidentally, it is husband and wife. pic.twitter.com/Bon9X6tGmk

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) February 15, 2024

Highest scores in Test:

Alyssa Healy - 99 v South Africa, 2024
Mitchell Starc - 99 v India, 2013

Couple Goals, quite literally! 😉#CricketTwitter#AUSvSApic.twitter.com/UVKK7ybPJU

— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) February 15, 2024

Couple goals indeed. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The dismissal of Healy would have hurt even more as two balls earlier, it looked as though she’d hit a four to bring up her ton.

There was some uncertainty as a South African fielder tried to cut a ball off at the rope when Healy was on 97.

If that had been called a boundary, Healy would have brought up her maiden Test ton.

“On no, Alyssa Healy. What a way to go out for 99. Another look at two balls earlier please,” journalist Peter Ryan tweeted.

“It was a 4, how was that not called?” was one reply.

“Devastating,” was the short reply from another.

But while Starc and Healy don’t chase the limelight as a married couple and rather to let their cricket do the talking, the pair have recently shared a bit more of their personal life.

Speaking on Channel 7 during the ODI portion of the multi-format series, Healy roasted Starc as the latter took up a role in the commentary booth.

Starc had asked a question about the quicks bowling fractionally too short when Healy replied: “I think if we’re being highly critical, as you’re suggesting, then yes, potentially.”

Starc threw his hands in the air and the commentary booth erupted in laughter.

After the hilarious exchange, Emma Freedman then asked: “Is this what conversation is like on the couch?”

Healy immediately shook her head as Starc laughed: “It’s why we don’t talk cricket.”

It’s just the latest in a long history of “couples goals” moments from the pair.

The pair are keen golfers and play off for the “Stealy Cup” in an annual tradition.

Where they seem much more comfortable. Photo: Instagram

Speaking on the Separate Bedrooms podcast late last year, Healy revealed a time she was left feeling betrayed by Starc — when he watched an episode of Billions without her.

“We started watching Billions or something like that together. And we were like, Oh, we’re at home. Let’s watch it together. This will be great,” Healy told the Separate Bedrooms podcast.

“Anyway, I went out, I reckon I went to hockey training or something and came home and there’s Mitch on the couch watching it without me. And I’ve never felt so betrayed in my life. I think I literally said I wished that I walked in and there was another woman here because I actually think this is so much worse.”

Rubbing salt in Healy’s wound, Annabel Sutherland brought up her second Test hundred in the first session of day two.

Originally published as ‘Didn’t help me’: Aussie cricket power couple’s unwanted history