Australia’s star wicket-keeper batswoman Alyssa Healy is excited for the “daunting” challenge to play four big major worldwide tournaments in 2022, saying the girls around the world would be chomping at the bits to be part the events and showcase the women's game on an international scale.
With the ICC Women's ODI World Cup 2021 getting pushed back by a year due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Women's cricket will see four major tournaments in 2022 and these are rescheduled ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Birmingham Commonwealth Games, and Women's Ashes.
Healy said: “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.”
She further added, “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.”
On the ICC Women's T20 World Cup 2020 documentary, Healy said: “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.”
She added, “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.”
Healy, who is set to play against New Zealand in the upcoming limited-overs series, is disappointed with the ODI World Cup 2021 – which was originally scheduled to be held in New Zealand in February-March next year, being postponed but she said health and safety is most important at this point.
He signed off by saying, “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.”
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
