‘It was so weird’: Australia win cricket gold as McGrath allowed to bat and bowl with COVID-19

As Australia’s women’s cricket team waited with bated breath for video replays to confirm that Jess Jonassen’s enormous LBW appeal was going to be the nail in the coffin for a maiden Commonwealth Games gold medal, all-rounder Tahlia McGrath stood about five metres away on purpose.

When the big screen at Edgbaston flashed ‘OUT’, 10 cricketers in gold erupted in unison to celebrate a medal matching their playing colours after bowling India out nine runs short of a target of 162.

The odd one out was all-rounder McGrath.

Tahlia McGrath, Alana King, Jess Jonassen and Alyssa Healy pose with their gold medals.Credit: Getty

Moments before the match, McGrath tested positive for COVID-19. She was allowed to not only play, but bat, bowl and field.

After about five seconds, it all became too much for McGrath. Protocols went out the door as she lunged at her teammates, grabbed them with open arms, and soaked in a moment she deserved to be a part of.

It was a brief embrace for McGrath, who then walked away, put on a mask and accepted her gold medal side-by-side with teammates at the end of an engrossing day at Edgbaston for the first final of women’s T20 cricket at the Commonwealth Games.

“It was so weird. We didn’t want to get in trouble,” said Australian pace bowler Megan Schutt, who took 2-27 from her four overs. “We felt bad for Tahlia at the end there.

“At the end, screw it. If we get COVID, so be it.”

This is an Australian team that prides itself on remaining cool under pressure and they did just that as India capitulated in spectacular fashion by losing 8-34 in five dramatic overs.

Needing 11 runs off the final over with two wickets in the bank, Meghna Singh ran herself out before Jonassen trapped Yastika Bhatia in front on the fourth last ball of the match.

It was a remarkably similar celebration to when the men’s team retained the Ashes on English soil in 2019.

“That was absolutely crazy. One of the best games I’ve been a part of by far,” Schutt said. “We scrapped at the end there. That wasn’t our best game.

“It was a battle of attrition out there. It ebbed and flowed.”

Alyssa Healy with Mitchell Starc.Credit: Getty

After Australia won the toss and elected to bat, Beth Mooney (61 off 41 balls) – “it was nice to get a few more out of the middle” – and Meg Lanning (36 off 26) put on 74 runs for the second wicket before a bizarre scenario played out.

Moments before Lanning was run-out at the bowler’s end, a statement from Commonwealth Games Australia was issued confirming McGrath’s COVID result.

“McGrath is taking part in today’s final against India,” the statement said. “McGrath presented to team management with mild symptoms on Sunday and subsequently returned the positive test. She was named in the starting XI at the toss and the International Cricket Council (ICC) approved her participation in the final.”

Australian players celebrate after Jess Jonassen took the final wicket.Credit: Getty

A positive COVID-19 result at these Games does not automatically mean a player is rubbed out of competition. It is assessed on a case-by-case basis and on this occasion McGrath, who wasn’t present for the pre-match national anthem, was told she could play.

Exactly 18 minutes after the statement, McGrath took her mask off and made her way to the middle.

She greeted Beth Mooney for eight seconds before beginning the task of getting her team to a competitive total.

How far the world has changed since December when Australian captain Pat Cummins was ruled out of an Ashes Test – and sent into isolation for a week – because he spent just a few seconds chatting to a mate of a mate who came over to say hello at dinner.

McGrath had limited impact on the match, making just two runs and taking 0-24 from two overs.

She snaffled a high catch but quickly warned teammates to keep their distance in celebrations.

The decision to let her play left Indian some fans flummoxed.

“It’s a real shame that in elite sport you get publicly shamed for having COVID when over here probably 90 per cent in this room have it right now,” Mooney told reporters. “No one is testing, no one is doing anything. It’s a shame she couldn’t really celebrate with us. At the same time, I think the right decision was made in terms of letting her play given we’ve spoken about protocols and making sure we were trying to keep everyone safe throughout the game. Hopefully people aren’t too upset by it.

India’s captain Harmanpreet Kaur was asked about it after the match.

“That is something that was not in our control,” she said. “Whatever decision [was made] we had to follow that.”

Australia’s total of 8-161 was healthy and looked to be more than enough when Darcie Brown knocked over Smriti Mandhana (6) and Ash Gardner removed Shafali Verma (11) to have India reeling at 2-22.

But a wonderful partnership had Indian fans waving their flags and daring to dream of a reversal of the 2020 T20 World Cup final result as Jemimah Rodrigues (33) and Harmanpreet Kaur got their team to 2-118 and requiring 43 runs from just over five overs.

Australia’s class shone through as the panic set in. It was as good as over.

Jonassen knew her final delivery was always hitting the stumps. It’s fitting that another left-arm orthodox spinner, Darren Lehmann, bowled the final ball of Australia’s last Commonwealth Games campaign in 1998.

“Always out, yeah,” Jonassen said. “I’ve bowled enough deliveries to know if one is going to hit the stumps and I don’t often turn the ball overly far. I knew it was going straight on. It’s all about the theatre at the end.

At the medal presentation, McGrath stood with he teammates but wore a mask, singing the anthem proudly.