India dominated Australia after ending Day 1 on 98/1 in the one-off Test match at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Earlier in the day, India restricted Australia to 219 with the help of Pooja Vastrakar’s four wickets including a peach to dismiss Ellyse Perry.
The ongoing one-off Test is Alyssa Healy’s first assignment as Australia women’s team’s captain after Meg Lanning announced her retirement last month. Healy may not have batted as long as she would have liked but she definitely has the command and respect of her team.
Healy’s deputy, Tahlia McGrath had a lot of positive things to say about her captain after the Day 1 ended here at the Wankhede.
‘When She Speaks, Every Listens’
‘They’re both extremely different captains,’ said McGrath while talking about Healy and Meg Lanning.
“Midge (Healy) is one that’s extremely vocal. She is very passionate and communicates. When she speaks, everyone stops, everyone listens. She’s extremely inspirational when she speaks. You know 100% you’ve got Midge’s backing. She’s been amazing in the lead up to this test,” McGrath said.
“She’s someone that literally makes you feel good as a cricketer. It’s really crucial to have someone like that and the way she came out and batted today showed a lot of bravery as well. She’s been talking all week about how she’s going to play and she did exactly that today. When players do that and lead from the front it’s almost like ‘come follow my lead’. She was really awesome today and she’s going to be huge for us in the next couple of days as well,” added McGrath.
‘Big Shoes To Fill’
Healy herself believes that she has huge shoes to fill as the successor of Meg Lanning.
“Yeah, firstly I think it’s unbelievably huge shoes to fill in the sense of replacing Meg Lanning,” Healy told the media ahead of the Test match.
“I think the success that she had not only as a player but obviously as a leader of the Australian cricket team is fairly unmatched right around the men’s and the women’s game. So big shoes to fill on my part, but one that’s really a challenge that’s really exciting to me,” added Healy.
Healy also talked about giving the opportunity to the next generation to leave their mark on the game.
“I think my approach to it is about taking this group on to the next chapter. We’ve built an amazing legacy over the last 10 years with Meg, Rach and Matthew Mott. But we’ve had a lot of change over the last 12 to 18 months within our squad and around our team as well. So the opportunity to create something new and I guess give the floor to the next generation of players to leave their mark on the game I think is something that I’m really looking forward to,” said the Australian skipper.
Australia has never won a Test match to India and Healy has a huge task ahead of her to keep the record intact specially after the start that India has had on Day 1. But isn’t it fit for an Australian women’s captain to have a tough challenge to show her brilliance? After all, they are the best women’s cricket team by a mile.
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