T20 World Cup: Carefree Alyssa Healy just keeps swinging

Alyssa Healy and Beth Mooney set a record partnership as Australia dismantled Bangladesh in the T20 World Cup.

Alyssa Healy swings the ball to the legside during Thursday night’s victory over Bangladesh at Manuka Oval. Picture: AAP

Alyssa Healy was hitting golf balls last year at a Sydney driving range. She was unashamedly dusty after the previous evening’s enthusiastic consumption of a few choice wines at her Long Reef club. When she started spraying drives like Ian Baker-Finch at St Andrews Old Course in 1995, I thought she would suggest an adjournment for coffee. A ceramic cup seemed a more realistic target than anything crafted from tin.

What stood out was how she kept swinging away without any discernible dent to the confidence from her shanks and duffs. She reckoned she would be middling them again soon enough, and so she was. Her demeanour and one remark in particular – “It’s just the way I play” – was an insight into what made her tick.

Watch every match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup LIVE & Ad-Break Free with FOX CRICKET on KAYO. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

Healy might have been batting like Australia’s happiest drunk before the World Cup but she trusted her swing until the sweet spot was found again. She stroked an unencumbered 83 from 53 deliveries on Thursday night as Australia thrashed Bangladesh by 86 runs at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.

The hosts posted 1-189 after a 151-run opening stand between Healy and Beth Mooney, the highest ever international T20 partnership for Australia. Bangladesh were restricted to 9-103. Megan Schutt took 3-21 in a commanding performance from Meg Lanning’s side.

“Me and Moons had a good presence out there tonight,” Healy said. “We seem to work really well together so hopefully we can maintain the rage.”

Mooney contributed an unbeaten 81 to justify her selection at the top of the order. Her twin failures to start the tournament sparked talk that Healy and Ellyse Perry should be let loose as the opening combination.

They already had chemistry and understanding and trust and the world record domestic T20 partnership, but after Healy and Mooney piled on 151 runs in 17 overs for the opening wicket against Bangladesh, all selection speculation was over.

Perry is the most accomplished female cricket in history but she cannot get a hit. Her batting is nearly too good and proper for T20. If she doesn’t open with Healy, receiving the maximum allotment of time to build an innings, what to do with her? She has faced only five balls in the tournament.

Then again, when Healy was in the sort of form and mood she found in Canberra, it hardly mattered where anyone else batted. Mooney played the sheet anchor role but her 81 runs came at a surprisingly decent clip: 58 balls.

No one would have been more pleased than Perry, still wandering around in No Woman’s Land, happy to be there if Australia kept winning.

“It’s great fun batting with Midge (Healy),” Mooney said. “She hits the ball really cleanly, and takes the game on in the power play, and makes my life a bit easier at the other end.

“She batted really well today. She’s often the one who gets us off to a good start so it’s nice that it was both of us today.”

Fun fact: Australia’s coaching staff get the players to do their own scouting of the opposition before delivering their findings at team meetings. Every member of the 15-woman squad is tasked with formulating a game plan to combat a specific member of the opposition. This seems both an intriguing innovation and a heck of a way for the coaches to have a bit of a bludge. They’re still getting paid for this?

We’re writing with tongue fielding in cheek, of course, but we do like the thought of the coaches throwing their hands in the air in a complicated pre-match meeting and saying, “You know what, you jokers are the ones who are playing. Come up with your own bloody plans!” There hasn’t been this much homework in Australian cricket since everyone was saying good morning, Mr Arthur. It would seem a pretty decent way to go about things. The more player input, the better.

The complication before the match against Bangladesh was that no one knew a damn thing about them. Australia had never played the Tigeresses in an international match. No Bangladesh players had featured in the WBBL. Healy and Mooney were untroubled against their little-known opposition before Ash Gardner came in and struck a quick 22 from nine deliveries.

The Bangladeshis dropped four catches and Healy appeared peeved to have thrown away a century but it was a productive night at the office. Monday’s fixture against New Zealand in Melbourne is a shootout for a semi-final berth.

Bangladesh’s hopes of hauling in the 190 required for victory were up there with Dave Warner’s chances of becoming Test captain. Zero. Perry bowled with zeal but could not buy a wicket. She deserved a couple. The 18-year-old Annabel Sutherland, daughter of former Cricket Australia boss James, took her first wicket of the tournament but yet again it had been Healy’s ability to find her range that made the difference.