Australia’s Alyssa Healy suffers dreaded pair as rain interrupts Ashes Test

On the third ball of Australia’s second innings in Canberra, Brunt lured Healy into fending at a length delivery outside off stump that caught the right-hander’s outside edge – wicketkeeper Amy Jones made no mistakes behind the stumps.

“That’s a magnificent ball from Katherine Brunt,” former Australian wicketkeeper Julia Price said on Fox Cricket.

“You can see with that celebration that she was really in the face of Alyssa Healy. She was so pumped to be able to get that.

“It’s exactly the start England needed.”

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It was the 12th time Brunt has dismissed Healy in international cricket – the next most is Indian veteran Jhulan Goswami with seven wickets.

Healy becomes the third Australian opening batter to suffer the dreaded pair in women’s Tests, joining Hazel Pritchard (1935) and Belinda Clark (2005).

Healy’s susceptibility to the swinging Kookaburra will raise questions about whether she’s the most suitable opening batter in Australia’s XI. Her most recent scores in Test cricket are 0, 0, 6, 29, but she did compile a classy 58 during the first innings of the 2019 Ashes Test in Taunton.

As Healy made her way back to the dugout on Saturday, her husband was graciously accepting the Allan Border Medal on the Manuka Oval sidelines.

Mitchell Starc becomes the fifth bowler to receive the illustrious accolade following a stellar 12 months in the national side, which included a T20 World Cup triumph and an Ashes demolition on home soil.

The left-arm quick was Australia’s highest wicket-taker in July’s ODI series against the West Indies, snaring 11 scalps at 10.63. He was also the only paceman to feature in all five Ashes Tests, taking 19 wickets at 25.36 to help Australia claim a 4-0 series victory.

Starc also averaged 27.55 with the bat across all formats in the 2021 calendar year.

Less than two months after Shane Warne campaigned for the New South Welshman to be axed from the Test XI, he’s got the Allan Border Medal around his neck.

“Obviously last year was particularly tough on and off the field,” Starc told reporters on Saturday.

“I probably didn’t play the cricket I wanted to and, at certain stages, I probably didn’t want to play cricket at all.

“I made it a key point of mine to not pay too much attention to, I guess, opinions outside of my circle of trust if you like, which I did a few years ago.

“And I think that’s kept me in a pretty level space through the last few years with either not playing the cricket I wanted to, or certainly challenges off the field.”

Starc and Healy were given the Men’s and Women’s ODI Player of the Year awards respectively, cementing their status as Australian sport’s powerhouse couple.

During the voting period, Healy scored 267 ODI runs at 44.50 with a strike rate of 94.01.

Opening partner Beth Mooney was named Women’s T20 Player of the Year, while all-rounder Ash Gardner, who registered a half-century in all three formats during the voting period, became the first Indigenous recipient of the Belinda Clark Award.

The women’s Ashes Test is sadly approaching an anti-climatic draw as rain brought day three to a premature end on Saturday.

England registered a first-innings total of 297, with skipper Heather Knight scoring a masterful 168 not out, the second-largest individual score against Australia in women’s Test history.

As the clouds turned grey over Manuka Oval, Brunt dismissed openers Healy and Rachael Haynes in quick succession before the rain arrived. Australia is 2/12 at stumps on day three, leading England by 52 runs.

2021-22 Australian Cricket Awards

Belinda Clark Award

Winner: Ashleigh Gardner (54 votes)

Runners-up: Beth Mooney (47), Alyssa Healy (39)

Allan Border Medal

Winner: Mitchell Starc (107 votes)

Runners-up: Mitchell Marsh (106), Travis Head (72)

Men’s Test Player of the Year

Winner: Travis Head (12 votes)

Runners-up: Scott Boland (10), Mitchell Starc (7)

Women’s ODI Player of the Year

Winner: Alyssa Healy (13 votes)

Runners-up: Rachael Haynes (10), Megan Schutt (10)

Men’s ODI Player of the Year

Winner: Mitchell Starc (15 votes)

Runners-up: Matthew Wade (6), Adam Zampa & Alex Carey (4)

Women’s T20 Player of the Year

Winner: Beth Mooney (13 votes)

Runners-up: Tahlia McGrath (10), Ashleigh Gardner (6)

Men’s T20 Player of the Year

Winner: Mitchell Marsh (53 votes)

Runners-up: Josh Hazlewood (29), Ashton Agar (26)

Women’s Domestic Player of the Year

Elyse Villani

Men’s Domestic Player of the Year

Travis Head

Betty Wilson Young Cricketer

Darcie Brown

Bradman Young Cricketer

Tim Ward

Originally published as Australia’s Alyssa Healy suffers dreaded pair as rain interrupts Ashes Test