Mumbai: Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke confirmed that newly-appointed captain Alyssa Healy is on track to lead the side in the upcoming one-off four-day Test against India, starting at the Wankhede Stadium from December 21.
In the one-day red-ball practice match against Mumbai XI, Alyssa hit a half-century after coming out to bat at number five. Though she has been undergoing wicket-keeping practice following a recovery from the finger injury caused by a dog bite, which kept her out of WBBL, Alyssa did not keep wickets in the practice match as a precautionary measure, with Beth Mooney taking the keeping gloves.
“Everything is looking really positive, so fingers crossed it keeps going that way over the next three or four days. Unless there’s some significant change think Midge (Healy) will be leading at the first day of the Test,” Shelley was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.
Australia will be playing a women’s Test match in India after 40 years and the hosts’ recently thrashed England by 347 runs at the DY Patil Stadium last week. Shelley thinks Australia will go in with an open mind and look to adapt as quickly as possible to the conditions presented to them in Mumbai.
“It’s a tough one to prepare for. The girls are coming off the back of a WBBL, and looks like we are going to get some really traditional subcontinent conditions but it’s also really exciting. Think everyone is just embracing the challenge. We are just doing whatever we can to prepare.”
“Think it will just be a matter of how quickly that pitch deteriorates. It’s a matter of adapting on the run and not getting too far ahead of ourselves, thinking that it will do something. We are trying not to read too much into it, but we certainly know what way it could go but it will be interesting how much it does change across the four days.”
Australia will also have a lot of thinking about the balance of their playing eleven. They have got four spinners in Ashleigh Gardner, Georgia Wareham, Jess Jonassen and Alana King, along with seam-bowling all-round options in Annabel Sutherland, Tahlia McGrath and Ellyse Perry.
They also have specialist pacers in Darcie Brown and Lauren Cheatle, who took 4-19 in the practice game Sunday. “We’ve certainly got a lot of options and a number of allrounders. We aren’t really clear on where that will land at the moment, we have some decisions to make,” concluded Shelley.
IANS
