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Alyssa Healy, Australia’s captain, will be given as much time as possible prior to the game to assess her fitness for their T20 World Cup semifinal matchup against South Africa.
Healy sustained a foot injury when sprinting between wickets in Australia’s victory over Pakistan. She used crutches and a moon boot to attend their last group-stage match against India.
Healy did not participate in Wednesday night’s optional training session at the ICC Academy. On the eve of the semi-final, Ellyse Perry, who played a pivotal role in Australia’s thrilling victory alongside stand-in skipper Tahlia McGrath, stated that Healy would be given ample time to recover before a decision was made over her eligibility.
“As it stands, it’s the same thing for Midgie [Healy], the medical staff and the team are going to give her every opportunity and possibility of playing tomorrow night,” Perry said. “I don’t think anything’s changed in that respect. We’ll just have to see in the next 24 hours.”
Following Healy’s injury, which occurred on the same evening that fast bowler Tayla Vlaeminck dislocated her shoulder, Perry stated that not much had changed in the Australia camp. Heather Graham took Vlaeminck’s position in the roster, although Vlaeminck has stayed in the UAE to assist the group.
“When stuff like that happens and you see things bringing your mate down like injury, it probably just strengthens that resolve to get around each other and be supportive,” Perry said. “But it’s really important to stay consistent and stick to the same processes that we’ve got and maintain that level of emotional consistency. Midge is such an important leader in our group and is still contributing just as much. So not too much has changed.”
Prior to the knockout stages, Australia received a welcome challenge from Sharjah Stadium, the pressure cooker where a roughly 15,000-strong pro-India crowd witnessed their side lose by a just nine runs. Subsequently, McGrath was keen to highlight the assistance she had received from Perry and Ash Gardner while playing.
“It’s always really helpful to be exposed to that kind of pressure and that kind of challenge from an opposition and it felt like a bit of a step up the other night, particularly with the full crowd there and probably not totally supportive of us,” Perry said. “It was a situation we’ve been in before but probably hadn’t been exposed to in this World Cup so far, so I thought the way we rose to that and just adapted to the challenge was awesome and hopefully that holds us in good stead for the time that we’ve got left in this tournament.”