Alyssa Healy smacks down ugly claims after historic T20 loss to West Indies
The stand-in Aussie captain wasn't concerned despite a worrying loss.
Aussie captain Alyssa Healy has defended the women's cricket team having lost their third match in four T20s in a brutal loss to the West Indies on Monday night. Healy passed 250 games representing her nation the other day, but things have taken a turn for the Aussies with the West Indies chasing down a record target of 213 at North Sydney Oval to leave the team reeling.
Hayley Matthews was the star of the show blasting 132 off 64 balls with Australia unable to halt the record run-chase. Failing to halt big totals has become a recent downfall for Australia who have now lost three of their last four T20 matches, following two losses to England in the Ashes earlier this year.
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The women's team had previously gone 12 matches unbeaten before the change. There has been questions raised over Australia's ability to stop mammoth totals, which was on show as Matthews put on a masterclass on Monday. While Nat Sciver-Brunt blasted two centuries against Australia in the Ashes.
While there could be concern over Australia's ability to stop batters once they get going, Healy wasn't worried with the recent results. "I wouldn't say it's a concern. They're really good players, right?" the stand-in captain said.
"It just comes down to execution. If you're only hitting the stumps like 20 per cent tonight, you're asking for trouble knowing how small (this) ground is.
"We said all along that there's going to be periods where we could potentially lose games of cricket, and that's happening. It's a good opportunity for us to learn from what is going wrong and try and fix it for the next one."
Alyssa Healy recognises recent challenges in world cricket
The Australian women's team is not accustomed to the challenge across all formats after holding a six-year stranglehold on the international game. After recognising the need to change their approach after the 2017 World Cup, Australia's aggressive approach with the bat and ball helped them dominate world cricket.
The Aussies had never lost a T20 at North Sydney Oval before last night 😮
Hear what captain Alyssa Healy had to say in the aftermath #AUSvWI pic.twitter.com/cmJGzmuemj— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) October 3, 2023
Except a drawn Ashes series in 2023 and a loss to West Indies at home have raised questions over the team. Regardless, Healy knows results are not too far away with a few little things to work on.
"We've got all the plans that we could possibly have in our heads and we've got the skills to be able to do it out there," she said. "We're just not executing when we need to, which we need to fix.
"We were too wide (on Monday night). You look at the way (Matthews) swings the bat, she's batting on leg stump, basically trying to open up the offside. We probably gave her a little bit too much room in that department."
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