Playing four major tournaments in one year daunting, but exciting: Alyssa Healy
Aug 22, 2020
Melbourne [Australia], Aug 22 : Australia wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy believes playing four major women's competitions in 2022 will be "daunting" but at the same time she is excited about the challenge.
There are four major tournaments scheduled for 2022 -- the rescheduled ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Birmingham Commonwealth Games and women's Ashes.
Originally scheduled for February-March next year in New Zealand, the ODI World Cup was recently deferred until 2022 because of the impact of coronavirus.
"Look, it will be interesting to see how they [the ICC] are able to balance all those events. Enabling all the international sides to have proper preparation for those big tournaments is key, and if that's not able to take place, then they're obviously going to look at rescheduling some of the events," ESPNcricinfo quoted Healy as saying.
"The opportunity to play four big major worldwide events in one year is obviously daunting, but it's also exciting for us to showcase the women's game on an international scale as big as that. I think most of the girls around the world would be chomping at the bits to be part of it," she added.
Healy also said that the ICC's documentary, which premiered last week, rekindled the desire among women cricketers to get back on the field.
"The last thing that everyone remembers [about women's cricket] is the [T20] World Cup, and to relive that through the documentary was timely, in my mind. For us players, it reignites the craving to go out there and play cricket," Healy said.
"Fortunately for us, we are lucky enough to have a series against New Zealand that's looking like it's going to go ahead. Unfortunately, there's a lot of series around the world that aren't happening. We are really grateful for the opportunity to be able to go out and play cricket for our country," she added.
Healy is disappointed with the ODI World Cup being postponed but she believes everyone's health and safety is most important at this point.
"The ODI World Cup postponement was obviously a disappointing thing for the women's game, but there are bigger factors are at play here. We need everyone to be safe, we need everyone to be healthy. For us, hopefully, we can be best prepared for the next ODI World Cup. Hopefully, we can see some bilateral series popping up in the near future when they're safe to do so," she said.
Healy is part of Australia's 18-member squad which will take on New Zealand in the upcoming limited-overs series.