Alyssa Healy Ashes diary: Women’s World Cup preparations and reaction to Justin Langer quitting
As Australia’s women demolished England in the Ashes, most of the focus of Aussie cricket fans was on Justin Langer. Here’s how Alyssa Healy saw the coaching saga.
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They have retained the Ashes but the Aussies want more.
Ahead of the Women’s World Cup, Healy outlines how the Aussies plan to use their domination of England as a springboard for glory.
We’re off:
As I write this, we’re boarding a plane, leaving Melbourne, bound for Christchurch where we’ll spend 10 days in hotel quarantine before we get stuck into World Cup preparations.
We’ve just won the Ashes in convincing fashion and we know that we fly to NZ with a target on our backs — we’re the No. 1 team in the world.
How will I survive quarantine? I’m actually just looking forward to a bit of a rest, obviously I’ll do some sort of exercise, but I’ll probably just be recharging the batteries and I’ll binge some shows and catch up on life admin – and I’ll be picking the 20 people to gift Kayo subscriptions to for the month of March. My golf clubs are packed too … maybe there’ll be some putting practice.
The win:
Winning the Ashes outright was a big achievement for this team and sets up a big 2022 well.
What was most impressive to me throughout the whole series was just the way that our group was able to adapt to everything that was thrown at us, whether that was conditions-wise or whatever it might have been.
Not once did it feel like we’re playing on a wicket that was an absolute belter, it was always doing a little bit, whether it was the balls, or the wickets, you never quite felt quite “in” with the bat, but our group was able to adapt to that, our bowling unit was incredible on those wickets, but our batting group in particular just knuckled down and got the job done.
I’ve loved Alana King’s sunnies, Grace Harris’s jokes, Tahlia McGrath’s wicket celebrations and Darcie Brown being on a hat-trick.
But there’s more to achieve …
World Cup:
The ICC’s 50-over World Cup gets underway from March 4. It’s no secret that us losing the semi-final in 2017 was a turning point for us and we’re after redemption.
But I’ll be intrigued to see how we go in this World Cup just simply because of the way we celebrating winning the Ashes – it was one of the most sober Ashes celebrations I’ve been a part of.
It almost seemed like there’s unfinished business, we’ve still got games to go.
It was really weird feeling.
We were obviously really excited to win – and it’s a big series to win – but it was almost like we all went: Righto, let’s go! Let’s get on the plane and get cracking on the World Cup.
It won’t be easy. I reckon the Kiwis on home soil will be tough to beat.
Darlington’s withdrawal:
We are flying to the World Cup without Hannah Darlington, after she pulled out of the event as she takes care of her mental health and wellbeing.
For Hannah, this wouldn’t have been an easy decision to make, heading over to a World Cup, which I believe we’ve got a really good chance of winning. It was obviously a really brave decision and one that was probably not taken lightly.
The game is definitely changing and evolving. And we’re probably more scrutinised now than we’ve ever been.
Sending massive best wishes to Aussie player Hannah Darlington, who has pulled out of the World Cup due to mental health and wellbeing reasons.
— England’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) February 9, 2022
Wish you all the best Hannah, brave move â¤ï¸#CWC22pic.twitter.com/9kqI5fmzwr
Once again, we’re leading into World Cup, and I’m fending off questions about my form and the team’s form and individuals and how they’re going.
So, I think we’re probably under more pressure now than what we’ve ever been, with a lot more people looking in and wanting to make comments.
And then you throw in a Covid bubble and hubs and protocols that take away some of your basic freedoms — while you see everybody outside living relatively normal lives and you’re not able to — it adds an extra layer of stress and anxiety on top, so it’s not easy.
It’s a great life being a professional athlete, it’s one of the best jobs in the world, but it’s a tough life too. And it’s not always glamorous, it’s a high pressure environment and you’re making decisions constantly that could affect your career.
And the girls who come into our side seem to be getting younger and younger (Darlington is 20) and I’d imagine that’d be incredibly tough.
Hopefully we can see Hannah back on the park sooner rather than later and dominating again.
Langer saga:
It’s obviously been an interesting period in Australian cricket and we were happy to fly under the radar for a bit.
But I’ll put it this way: this is obviously not the way we want cricket to be in the headlines.
It gave a negative feel to what’s been such an amazing summer and I get a little bit disappointed by that, that we see cricket negatively in the media.
It was obviously tough to read it all, and especially a lot of the past players coming out and speaking quite vocally about the current group of players was tough to read as well.
But in my opinion, I think Pat Cummins has come out and showed what a real leader he is, and I think his press conference on Wednesday and his statement I think was handled really well and I’m looking forward to seeing what that group is going to do moving forward with whoever it is to take the reins.
Modern day cricket teams:
The debate about whether a cricket team belongs to a coach or a captain is an interesting one.
It seems like nowadays – and this is purely just my opinion – that a coach at that top level, a lot of their job is player managing: getting the best out of their players.
I think a cricket team is still a coach’s team. I think they still run the show, but I think the captain has a big say in the culture of the group. It’s got to be a team effort.
For us, when something big happens inside the Aussie men’s team, there’s always conversation about it and obviously a lot of questions are fired at me because I’m probably aware of what’s going on a bit through Mitch.
But, of course we talk about it, it’s Cricket Australia and we’re a part of that and so are the boys.
It’s frustrating for me to see negativity in the media when we could be talking about what an amazing summer it’s been, with both sides winning Ashes series really convincingly, is what we should be talking about and that other stuff can be left for behind the scenes.
Catch up on Healy’s earlier diary entries below …
The retain:
As I write this, sitting in my hotel room overlooking Melbourne’s Chapel St, it’s great knowing that we’ve retained the Ashes, thanks to our 27-run win on Thursday in the first one-day international.
But that’s not enough for us.
We want to win this series outright.
I think what sums up our group the best, is that in the changerooms on Thursday night, it was a happy changeroom, but it was a quiet change room at the same time.
And I think there was a sense of unfinished business, which I absolutely love.
We were pumped we’d just retained the Ashes, but then to walk into the room and see everyone doing their recovery and getting ready to come to Melbourne to rip in on Sunday was also really cool.
The last time England came out here, in 2017, they won the final two games and we all remember standing there and we had the trophy in our hand, but it felt like we kind of lost the Ashes in a sense because we simply retained it.
There’s a hunger and desire in our group to win the next two ODIs and heading into Sunday’s game, we’re not here to share the points with England.
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Marvellous Mooney
I feel like I’m constantly being amazed by Moons (Beth Mooney), just obviously her resilience coming back from a broken jaw to play the way she has in the Test match and then in the first ODI – and named Player of the Match.
Also because I feel like she’s fading away. Every time I see her, she’s even more tiny than before, just simply because she can’t get enough food in at the minute.
We were all supremely jealous of her throughout the Test because at every break, she’s eating ice cream and none of us were allowed any of it.
She’s just an unbelievably resilient character, digs in and makes important runs for us and it’s always great to watch.
Brown’s rise:
Darcie Brown’s four-fa on Thursday night was awesome. We spend most of the time in the field laughing at her, because she’s just so blase about everything.
She’s just an absolute character and then just does some really incredibly athletic things. Her caught-and-bowled on Thursday night was one of the most athletic things I’ve seen for a little while from our fast bowlers, but then literally maybe five overs before that, she attempted a run out and almost threw the ball into her own head.
The Draw:
Our Test Match was intense and for it all to come down to the last hour of the last day was pretty cool and it was awesome to be a part of.
We were under the pump for quite a lot of that last day, and I’m pretty sure at some point on that last day, Meg Lanning and I looked at one another and thought: ‘Oh, we’re going to lose here’.
But at the end of the day, because we’ve had so many draws of late, we really wanted a result, and even if England had won, at least there would have been a result.
That said, the fact it was a draw made it so interesting and intriguing at that back end and the mood out there on the field was pretty cool.
You don’t really celebrate draws, they’re pretty bittersweet, but we do celebrate how many people were talking about that game.
Even to the extent that my husband Mitch (Starc and Australian men’s bowler) was saying that he’d never received so many messages from his fellow teammates from the male players saying, ‘How good is this game?; and speculating on what we should we and shouldn’t do.
My form:
As for my own form, yeah, I got a bit of a sore bum in that Test from sitting down for a couple of days after my two ducks.
But that just sums up cricket for me: you play one loose shot and you get caught behind and then you see the opposition player miss at 35 deliveries and not get out, so it sort of just sums up the game for me that that’s just how it flows.
So in the first innings, I thought, right, I can’t afford to make that that bad decision, I’ll just tighten up and then you get one good delivery and you get caught behind.
So as disappointing as it was, I think personally, it was still a great Test to be a part of and while I would have liked to be out there contributing with the bat, it was nice to see the other girls go really well and I guess when it came to my turn to contribute with the gloves, I could do just that.
The medal:
When I got out for a second duck, I walked off the field extremely disappointed in myself and then literally five minutes later I was told that Mitch was about to be presented with the Allan Border Medal, as the year’s best male cricketer, so I went from complete disappointment to completely overwhelmed with emotion.
I was borderline in tears, and I didn’t really know what I was crying about; whether it was because I got a duck, or because Mitch won the medal.
Later, in the rain break on day three and he was just sitting there waiting, you know, sitting by himself in his little pen that he was put in, all the other partners had gone home.
So I said, ‘Can I go sit with him?’. And they said, ‘Yeah, no dramas’.
When I was there, one of the Cricket Australia guys wandered up with a beer and a doughnut for Mitch to celebrate his medal, so we split the doughnut and then ‘cheers-ed’ it and low and behold, it’s gone viral.
We had no idea the camera was on us. I’ve been shown the footage and it was terrifying because I swear I looked more in love with the doughnut than I did with Mitch.
"It was the cheapest AB Medal we've ever been to!" 😂
— 7Cricket (@7Cricket) February 3, 2022
Alyssa Healy talks about her last few days ... and her love of donuts #Ashespic.twitter.com/1o4RqxtrGV
The Rain and the joker:
We sat through two washouts and spent the days sitting in the dugout at Adelaide Oval hoping we might get on and there was one person who entertained us for the weekend: Grace Harris.
It’s quite a contrast having her back in our side. She is always good for a laugh, so it was definitely not a boring dugout at any point.
She’s always very loud and very comical, talking junk. Literally, just dribble, but it’s funny dribble and some of the highlights were her stories of the shenanigans the Brisbane Heat got up to the WBBL. But then you throw in Kingy (Alana King) who’s got a great personality and Darcie Brown, who doesn’t have any idea what’s going on and it’s very, very funny. If people were sitting near us, they would have heard our group laughing for the majority of the time it was raining.
The bookend:
At the end of every part of a series – in this case, the T20s – we like to have what we call “bookend drinks”. But because of Covid protocols, we’re not really allowed to mingle much as a large group.
Fortunately, the medical staff approved a few drinks for us and Adelaide Oval put on a dinner for us on Sunday night on the back balcony overlooking the No. 2 oval.
It was actually a really nice evening for us because we haven’t been able to feel like normal human beings at any point this Ashes because we’re living in a bubble. So to be able to sit around and have a meal and share a drink together was actually really cool.
The TV rights controversy:
That morning had started with the frustrating news that our 50-over World Cup starting in March wouldn’t be broadcast on free-to-air TV and the deeper I dived into the issue the more frustrated I got.
I was just sitting there in my hotel room thinking: ‘OK, this is not a great situation to be in. It’s another slap-in-the-face situation for our sport and our team in particular’.
And I thought: ‘Well, instead of making it something really negative, how could I turn that around and make it something positive?’.
That’s when I made the decision to offer up 20 Kayo gift cards so people could watch it for the month. Messages started coming through quickly from people wanting them, but I had to get to the game and I turned my phone off. Turning my phone back on after the game was incredible.
In light of this mornings “interesting†news - I’m going to offer up 20x @kayosports Gift Cards for people to be able to watch our World Cup next month…
— Alyssa Healy (@ahealy77) January 23, 2022
Only available to Aussie based watchers (sorry). Hit me up if you want one. #BreakTheBiashttps://t.co/KsYOQsgelM
I had 500 messages on Twitter from people wanting the gift cards, and I’d been tagged all over social media. Then Kayo announced they’d be offering coverage of our World Cup for free, which was great news.
I’m still going to stay true to my word and give 20 people free Kayo for the month … I just have to pick 20 from the 500 messages I have. I’ve got some work to do.
The Test:
We’ve arrived in Canberra leading the series 4-2 after sharing the points in those two washouts. We would have loved to have gone out there and won both those washed-out T20s, but at the end of the day, we see it as a positive because on the flip side we might have lost the first T20 and be heading into the Test down 2-4 in the points.
It makes for an exciting Test and really puts the onus on England to try to force a result, more so than us for a change. We haven’t won a Test match since 2015 – in the multi-format series it’s worth so many points (four for the win, two for a draw) that it’s actually really hard to continue to put your foot down and take the risk to win the game if it means potentially losing it.
But this time, there’s a real opportunity for someone to go out there and win, and if you’re on the England side, you kind of need to win it to stay in the Ashes.
And if you’re on our side, we’d like to win it because then you’re getting an even more of a lead in the series going into the format we’re really comfortable with: the ODIs.
We see those washed-out games as a really exciting opportunity to make the next four games fun to watch and fun to be a part of.
The Baggy Green:
I know everyone’s keen to know what happened with the missing Baggy Green. My husband (Mitch Starc) arrived in Adelaide last week and brought it with him and he threw it across the room at me with the look of: “You’re an idiot” all over his face.
I’ve been really ribbed by the team for forgetting it and I’ve spent all week trying to justify how I forgot it. But, I believe everything happens for a reason, that’s my motto in life, so there must be some reason I forgot it!
Monday, January 17, Sydney:
The departure:
It’s about 9am when I pack my luggage in the car and drive to pick up teammate Rachael Haynes from her house nearby.
For the first time in about 10 years of international touring, I reckon I’ve packed the least amount of things. I normally travel with the most amount of gear, simply because I’m a wicketkeeper, but I literally have just packed my cricket gear and golf clubs.
Rach and I are driving together to Canberra to jump on a charter flight to Adelaide with a handful of other Aussies and the English team.
With Covid concerns, the Aussies take up the first two rows and then there are about 10 rows between us and the Poms. There is zero mingling and maybe that’s a good way to start the series … it brings some of that natural rivalry and spice back.
Tuesday, January 18, Adelaide:
The forgotten item:
The text message comes through early from my husband, (Aussie quick) Mitchell Starc. It’s a photo of him holding up my baggy green and he’s written: “You might need this”.
Yep, I left my baggy green at home in Sydney.
Our baggy greens sit alongside one another in our cupboard at home and they’re at Mitch’s eye-level not mine, so I actually just walked straight past it.
The worst bit is, I’m the one who always gets on the group chat to remind everyone to pack their baggy greens, and there I was, the only one to forget it. Thankfully, Mitch has arrived in Adelaide now and brought it with him.
The bad news:
When we arrived on Monday night, we were sent into our hotel rooms and not allowed to leave until our RAT results came in, so we missed Monday night’s training session.
Tuesday morning after I tested negative, I got in the lift to go to breakfast and Beth Mooney was in there. We talked a bit, but she seemed strange, and was mumbling, which I thought was odd.
When I sat down for brekkie, Rach Haynes told me what had happened the night before: that Moons had fractured her jaw at training and was having surgery that day. It was such a shock.
The practice games:
But as a team, we needed to keep moving and Moons’s injury meant that our two trial matches planned for that day against Australia A took on a whole new meaning, with selectors needing to work out who’s going to open.
Wednesday, January 19, Adelaide:
The nets session:
My favourite nets in the country are at Adelaide Oval and I never turn down an opportunity to train there, so I rocked up to an optional training session and hit for as long as I can.
I’ve been working on correcting a few technical issues with my grip and everything is feeling good. I feel like I’m getting my mojo back.
The Pez news:
We hold our final team meeting before the series starts and the coaches put up the starting XI. Ellyse Perry isn’t selected. This is big news outside our group, but not something that anyone in our team dwelled on. Pez is a huge part of our side and our sport and it shows the evolution of our group that we have so much depth pushing for places.
Thursday, January 20, Adelaide:
The game:
The match isn’t until the evening, so I sleep in, wander the city and then spend the afternoon
literally just lying down keeping cool.
I’m not nervous, but definitely anxious to get it all underway.
At 5pm we leave for the oval. We don’t have team buses these days thanks to Covid and can only have four in a car and I’m one of the chief drivers, so I drove a few of us to the oval.
The game was excellent. I thought we bowled well and given England’s start, the fact we could restrict them to 4-169 was good. Then came the run chase, I might have lost my wicket for seven, but on the bright side, I got out of the way so T-Mac (Tahlia McGrath) could come in.
It was awesome to see Meg Lanning (64*) and McGrath (91*) bat. By the end of the game, I hadn’t even taken my pads off because I just couldn’t take my eyes off what was happening in the middle. The group was buzzing off the field watching it.
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