Australia pacer Mitchell Starc is probably the first player in the Ashes history to take part in a match with his wife’s cricket bat. Starc recently revealed that he was using his wife Alyssa Healy’s bat since the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India which took place in June, at the Oval.
“It’s a little bit lighter. (South Africa’s) Anrich Nortje was bowling pretty fast through the summer, so I used a lighter bat. She didn’t know it was gone, so it was fine. I was cleaning out a few cricket bags at home, she was away on a tour. I said, ‘You know there’s three bats in this bag’ and she didn’t know. I said, ‘There’s two now, the other’s in my bag,” the Aussie fast bowler was quoted as saying byperthnow.com.
It seems like Mitchell Starc’s plan ultimately worked out as he credited his wife’s bat for being able to deliver runs in the Ashes series so far. The Aussie pacer had scored his highest Test score in almost four years against Team India in the WTC final. He hit an impressive 41 runs off 72 balls in the second innings of the marquee clash, helping Australia secure the victory by 209 runs. He played another vital knock in the Lord’s Test of the ongoing Ashes series.
It is not the first time that the couple swapped bats. Starc claimed that Healy had taken one of his bats previously. Using her husband’s bat, Healy played an impressive knock of 55 runs off 38 balls against Sydney Thunder in the 2016-17 season of the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL). She pulled off another terrific innings against Perth, scoring 46 off 31 balls.
Mitchell Starc spent some time with his wife this week, after heading to Bristol to watch Alyssa Healy lead the Aussies in the first ODI of the women’s Ashes. He also attended the previous two days of the Test which was played at Trent Bridge. The pacer shall return in the fourth Test scheduled to start from July 19 in Manchester. The Australian cricket team currently lead in the Ashes 2-1.
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