Women’s Cricket World Cup: Alyssa Healy Predicts England, India As Australia’s Biggest Challenges

Australia captain Alyssa Healy expects England and India to prove hard to conquer for Australia at this year’s ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup this year, as per the official website of ICC.

Australia Eyeing Historic Title Defense

Healy spoke to reporters at a sponsorship event for Cricket Australia in Sydney on Thursday and the experienced keeper revealed everything was on target for the Aussies as they try and become the first side to defend the Women’s 50-over World Cup title in 37 years.

Australia won back-to-back World Cups in 1982 and 1988 under former skipper Sharon Tredrea and the seven-time champions will head into this year’s event in India and Sri Lanka as one of the favourites to hold aloft the famous trophy.

England and India Named as Toughest Rivals

Healy is taking nothing for granted for her No.1 ranked ODI side in the world and has nominated their closest rivals in the rankings in England (second) and India (third) as potential stumbling blocks for the Aussies at the eight-team tournament that commences on September 30.

“I wouldn’t write England off just yet, I think they will find a groove under Lottie (Charlotte Edwards),” Healy said, as quoted from the official website of ICC.

“But I think the way that India are playing, at home in those conditions, they are going to be really tough to beat,” she added.

Healy’s Road to Recovery

Healy is inching closer to making her comeback from the foot injury she picked up at last year’s ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and is eyeing off Australia A’s upcoming series at home against India A as her chance to return to competitive action.

The 35-year-old hasn’t played for Australia since she featured as a batter only in the one-off Test against England at the MCG in February and the most recent time she kept wickets was an ODI against the same side in January at the start of the year.

Adjustments Behind the Stumps

Healy plans to make her comeback to keeping during the ODI portion of the upcoming series with India A and has tweaked her technique behind the stumps slightly to help her ailing body.

“I haven’t actually kept in a competitive game since January and that’s given me a little bit of time to tinker with a few things and make it a little bit easier on my body,” Healy said.

“We’ve been taught how to wicketkeep a certain way in this country for an extended period of time, and at the end of the day it’s not overly efficient on our bodies and doing it at 35, it’s not ideal,” she noted.

Preserving Longevity in Her Career

“We’ve just been looking at ways to make it a little bit easier for my ageing joints and trying to keep things moving the way they should,” she added.

“Without getting overly technical, (I’ve just adjusted) where I’m starting from, more than anything else,” she said.

“You won’t notice anything different, just not getting as low as what I used to, to hopefully help the knee, help the foot and keep me out there a little bit longer,” Healy noted.

(With Inputs From ANI)

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