Drawn Ashes ‘a mini reset moment’ for Australia: Alyssa Healy

Alyssa Healy, Australia’s stand-in skipper, believes the tourists’ Ashes retention might be a ‘reset moment’. Notably, Australia began the multi-format series with a one-off Test victory. However, Australia lost both the T20I and ODI series 2-1 against England, as the multi-format series ended in a tie.

Healy stated that she believes the team’s tenacity and ruthlessness would manifest themselves differently going ahead than they have in the past. The 33-year-old continued by saying that it is a terrific chance to reflect and have a reset moment about the group, how they currently appear, and what they hope to accomplish in the coming years.

“I think what this fighting spirit and what this ruthlessness of this team is going to look like moving forward might be slightly different to what we’ve seen in the past. For us, 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. I think it’s a really cool moment to do that,” Healy said, as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

Healy went on to say that the retirement of Rachael Haynes and the late withdrawal of long-time captain Meg Lanning from the tour for undisclosed medical reasons had left a significant void in the side. She further pointed out that they are trying to give some experience to young players, which is something positive.

We’ve lost two of our most senior players in the space of 12 months: Healy

“You look at some of the changes that this group has seen over the last 12 months in particular, we’ve lost two of our most senior players, top-order batters in particular, in the space of 12 months. We’re not sure if, or when one of those might be coming back, so we’ve had a little bit of chopping and changing.”

“I guess the positive side is that we’re giving some experience to some young players that we’ve always seen the opportunity to play for Australia at some point, but they’re getting the opportunity probably a little sooner than they’d anticipated, so that’s a great thing,” she added.