Grace Harris prepares to open in T20 World Cup semi-final for injured captain Alyssa Healy

Jigsaw puzzles are occupying the time for the middle-order slogger given the task of filling Alyssa Healy’s T20 World Cup opening role.

Grace Harris headed to the T20 World Cup taking inspiration from Selleys No More Gaps, considering herself a multipurpose hole filler in the all-conquering Australian side.

But now she’s preparing to open the batting in a semi-final against South Africa, and possibly a final, with doubts lingering over the fitness of captain Alyssa Healy days out from Friday morning’s showdown in Dubai.

After making a first-ball duck against New Zealand in her opening appearance of the tournament, Harris was given “about 24 hours” notice she would be taking Healy’s spot against India after the skipper injured her foot.

Harris topscored, making 40 in a crucial victory that took the Aussies’ T20 World Cup winning streak to 14, secured the semi-final spot and kept the reigning champions on track for a fourth-straight title.

Grace Harris is a valuable replacement. Picture: Francois Nel/Getty Images

Having long not worried about things like selection, Harris, who has played 47 T20s for her country, mainly as a middle-order slogger, said while her elevation to opener came as a surprise, she was ready to embrace every opportunity afforded to her.

“I’m taking my career inspiration at the moment from Selleys No More Gaps multipurpose. I’m just trying to plug holes wherever I can in this team,” she said ahead of the clash in Dubai.

“I know that we speak often about role clarity meetings and I’m just so thankful that Shell (coach Shelley Nitschke) kind of gave me a bit of a crack in Bangladesh (in March) before actually coming to a World Cup match and having to really adjust your role clarity.

“I’ve always wanted to be a more versatile player and never wanted just to be pigeonholed as an athlete and tried to make the most of any opportunities that I can get. But I do want to say my golden ball duck against New Zealand must have been so good because I’ve ended up opening the batting. Outstanding.”

“At the moment I just grateful that the selectors had the faith in me to actually open because we’ve got a couple of people that they could have turned to and I could have just resumed my role in that middle order and you know a lot of things could have happened.

“I am basically just trying to stay as happy and as regular as I always am. Whether I play for the Australian team or whether I play for my club team, I just really enjoy the game and I wanted to try and take that into every game that I get to play.”

Australian captain Alyssa Healy on crutches

A final pool game win for the West Indies over England left the Australians the only undefeated team at the tournament and odds-on favourites to go all the way.

It’s a testament to the depth the Australians have after losing Healy and speedster Tayla Vlaeminck.

“It’s a fantastic team to be a part of with how many experienced heads that we have,” Harris said.

“And I think in play and not just series play is critical to have that composure within a full 15 squad because often it does take 15 to win you a tournament and I feel like the edge that the better teams have on other international teams is that they do have individuals that can step up throughout their entire squad, not just heavily reliant on maybe one or two individuals to come off.”

Harris revealed she would adjust her training to suit opening, moving from facing older balls in the nets to new-ball bowlers as part of her preparation for potentially the biggest innings of her career. In between, she said she would stick to the jigsaw puzzles and paint by numbers to distract her from thinking about what’s to come.

“I’ve been doing some jigsaw puzzles. I’ve yet to complete a thousand piece. I have found the edges though, so I’m thankful for that,” she said.

“There’s a lot of excitement and a couple of nervous nellies probably floating about. But as a professional athlete, you’re trained to play in these games and you’re trained to get the opportunity to do this, so I guess everybody’s just trying to take their opportunities when they present and it should be a good fun.”

Originally published as Grace Harris prepares to open in T20 World Cup semi-final for injured captain Alyssa Healy