Due to a calf issue, Australia's stand-in captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the fifth and final T20I against India in Mumbai on Tuesday, leaving stand-in vice-captain Tahlia McGrath to lead her country for the first time
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Due to a calf issue, Australia’s stand-in captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the fifth and final T20I against India in Mumbai on Tuesday, leaving stand-in vice-captain Tahlia McGrath to lead her country for the first time. Healy, who took over as captain for this trip in the absence of Meg Lanning, suffered a calf strain while batting in the fourth T20I on Saturday. Healy was unable to bat or field again. Beth Mooney, who keeps wicket for the Perth Scorchers in the WBBL, kept wicket during the chase and is expected to keep again in the final match.
Healy will undergo scans on her leg when she returns to Australia later this week to establish the extent of the damage. Australia play home T20I and ODI series against Pakistan in mid-January ahead of the T20 World Cup in February. Because of her injury, Healy’s incredible record streak of 107 consecutive T20Is for Australia will come to an end. McGrath felt confident in her ability to represent her country after keeping her cool on Saturday and captaining Adelaide Strikers to the WBBL title last month.
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“I’m new to leadership in this team and been learning a lot on the fly and it probably worked in my favour that I didn’t have long to think about it,” McGrath told reporters in Mumbai on Monday. “I was strangely calm out there, I had a lot of support. I had to try and stay calm and keep the team calm. “I’ve come off the back of captaining Strikers for six weeks where it’s high pressure. The best players in the world are there and that’s what it felt like, I was captaining the Strikers with a few extra players.”
Phoebe Litchfield, who made her international debut in game two of the series but did not bat, is expected to earn another chance. Australia are unclear as to who will open besides Mooney but they have lots of alternatives, including Litchfield and Ellyse Perry. “We haven’t decided yet,” McGrath said. “But I think the good news is we’ve got a lot of options, whether Pheebs [Litchfield] comes in, she’s done it in the Big Bash, myself, Pez [Perry]. We’ve got so many options but we’ll have to wait and see.”
