7 months ago
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There is ne'er a bully clip for a squad to suffer its captain, opening batter and wicketkeeper to injury. For Australia to miss Alyssa Healy’s multifaceted services owed to a calf strain for the Women’s World Cup clash against aged rival England astatine the Holkar Stadium present connected Wednesday — though some teams person already qualified for the semifinals — is simply a peculiarly cruel blow.
Besides the information that Alyssa, the heartbeat of this Australian outfit, dons assorted hats, she has been successful sensational signifier with the bat recently. The 35-year-old’s past 2 appearances, against Bangladesh and India successful Visakhapatnam, yielded sublime hundreds.
Ashleigh Gardner, left, and Tahlia McGrath during a signifier league up of the World Cup lucifer betwixt Australia and England astatine the Holkar Cricket Stadium successful Indore, Madhya Pradesh connected Tuesday, October 21, 2025. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
In airy of the prima player’s injury, suffered during a grooming league connected Saturday, the defending champion volition person to shuffle its resources against Nat Sciver-Brunt’s team. Tahlia McGrath volition instrumentality the mantle of enactment successful Alyssa’s absence. At the apical of the order, 22-year-old Georgia Voll is expected to capable in.
“It’s unfortunate for Alyssa with a flimsy calf strain. Voll has filled that relation before. She is the evident choice, but we’ve got extent successful our batting, truthful determination are immoderate opportunities extracurricular of that arsenic well,” Australia manager Shelley Nitschke told reporters connected Tuesday.
Australia’s Darcie Brown, centre, and Georgia Wareham, close during a grooming league up of their World Cup lucifer against England astatine the Holkar Cricket Stadium successful Indore, Madhya Pradesh connected Tuesday, October 21, 2025. | Photo Credit: R.V. Moorthy
Despite the setback, the girls successful canary yellowish and greenish volition commencement arsenic the favourite. While some sides are identically placed successful the points array with 4 wins successful 5 matches (one no-result each), Australia dominated the 2024-25 Women’s Ashes astatine location with a cleanable 7-0 grounds crossed the 3 formats.
England’s opening batter and wicketkeeper Amy Jones, however, felt overmuch h2o has flown nether the span since that series. “It hasn’t been a taxable of discussion. It’s reasonably casual to look past the Ashes due to the fact that a batch of changes person happened since then. Tournament cricket is simply a spot antithetic connected the whole,” Jones said.
