Australia shall be at full power when its quest for a 3rd straight T20 World Cup goes on the road on Thursday evening with star opener Alyssa Healy cleared to play.
Captain Meg Lanning confirmed her deputy, who missed Australia’s ultimate pool recreation with a quad situation, was totally match with all-rounder Annabel Sutherland anticipated to be the unfortunate participant to make manner for Healy’s return within the semi-final towards India in Cape Town.
“Yeah, we’ve got a full squad. Alyssa Healy is fit and available, which is great for us,” Lanning confirmed.
“She’s had a great tournament so far and, is going to play an important role. So that’s nice, but it does make it pretty difficult to get it down to 11.
“And we’ve only just arrived and seen the conditions here. So, we haven’t settled on what the team looks like yet, but it is nice to have everybody available.”
Healy is the third highest run scorer on the World Cup, with two half-centuries amongst her 146 runs, in simply three video games. The semi-final begins at 12am AEDT Friday morning, which is 3pm in South Africa.
Australia is undefeated on the match to date, and for all of 2023, having received all however one recreation in 2022 as properly, a tie towards Thursday evening’s opponents, India.
The defending champs have managed to hold the burden of expectation, and the stress of being hunted, with a stage of calmness Lanning stated stays key to their success.
“I do feel as though as a group, we are very calm and we know that teams are going to come pretty hard at this and they have done over the last few years, and just to be able to absorb some pressure, I think is really important,” she stated.
“You‘re not going to have it all your own way. There’s so many good teams out there now that there’s going to be times when they have the momentum. But that’s the nature of T20 cricket in particular.
“And for us, it’s just about staying calm in those moments, being really clear on what our plans are and trusting our ability as well. And that’s something I think we do really well. We back ourselves in and know the style that we want to play.
“So – big games, there’s key moments that come up and I think tomorrow will be no different. And I feel like we’re in a really good spot to be able to stay nice and calm and composed in those moments and hopefully get the job done.”
Lanning stated whereas current publicity to India in a five-match sequence final 12 months was good to have, a World Cup semi-final was an entire completely different situation.
“Both teams start at the same level when we come out and play. What’s happened in the past doesn’t make a difference,” she stated.
“We need to come out and play our best cricket and play the way that we want to. And in India, we look to do the same. So, as I said, it’s going to be an incredible game, two world-class teams going at it.”
Originally revealed as Australian star Alyssa Healy cleared to play T20 World Cup semi-final
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au