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Alyssa Healy believes the drawn Ashes, in which they lost both limited-overs series, is a good opportunity for Australia women to hit a mini reset.
Australia women’s stand-in captain Alyssa Healy has dismissed any murmurs of their dominance coming to an end after the drawn Ashes in England. In a points-based multi-format series, England managed to bounce back from 0-6 down to draw at 8-8 with the series going down in history books as one of the best.
Australia started the series with an 89-run win in the one-off Test at Trent Bridge, accounting for four points. They strengthened their lead with two more points in the first T20I, which they won by four wickets and with one ball to spare. Australia were vulnerable on several occasions but it didn’t cost them until the second T20I when they lost by three runs. They lost the third T20I and first ODI as well, making it three losses in a row.
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The double world champions managed to win the second ODI by a narrow margin of three runs, surviving Nat Sciver-Brunt’s onslaught and retaining the Ashes they have held since 2015. That delight didn’t last long as they were beaten in the rain-affected ODI series decider comfortably by 69 runs.
In the process, Australia lost a T20I series for the first time since 2017 and suffered their first fifty-over series defeat since 2013. Healy, standing in for Meg Lanning who withdrew ahead of the series, said this could be a moment to reset things. She added that the T20I defeat was somewhat understandable, ODI losses stung more.
“I wouldn’t say the end of an era. It’s a great opportunity to sort of reflect and almost have a little mini reset moment of what this group is and what we look like now and what we want to achieve over the next four or five years in particular. We looked back on the T20 series and we felt like that might have been coming for a little while. But the one-day format probably hurt us a little bit because I think we’re still a really strong outfit and to play the way we did was obviously disappointing,” said Alyssa Healy.
T20 series ✅ ODI series ✅ What an incredible Ashes series to be a part of. So proud of everyone involved & the support has been UNREAL! Thank you 💙🏴 pic.twitter.com/aQXtadrb19
— Danielle Wyatt (@Danni_Wyatt) July 19, 2023
Healy said there’s a lot of room for improvement especially in the shorter format as they need to adapt and grow with the game changing rapidly. They were beaten by a team that has focused heavily on their approach towards the game after getting hammered by Australia series after series. Healy went on to say that the way England have been playing is exciting and they can learn from it.
Australia missed their superstar captain Meg Lanning dearly with the bat and her tactical game as well. Until she returns, they have an opportunity to try out young players. They now head to Dublin where they will play three ODIs against Ireland on July 23, 25 and 28.
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