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Pacer Mitchell Starc, husband of Australia Women’s cricket captain Alyssa Healy, was present during the team's T20 World Cup 2024 match against Sri Lanka. The game was played on Saturday, October 5, at Sharjah Cricket Stadium in the UAE.
Starc was last active in a five-match ODI series against England, where he played in four matches and took five wickets, contributing to Australia’s 3-2 series win. On Saturday, he attended Australia Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 opener to cheer on his wife, Alyssa Healy.
Here are some of the pictures:
Sri Lanka Women won the toss and chose to bat first, but their start was far from ideal. They lost both openers, Vishmi Gunaratne (0 off 10 balls) and Chamari Athapaththu (3 off 12 balls), within the first four overs.
Harshitha Madavi scored 23 runs off 35 balls, while Anushka Sanjeewani added 16 runs from 15 balls. Nilakshi de Silva remained not out on 29 off 40 balls, helping Sri Lanka finish their innings at 93-7 in the allotted 20 overs.
In response, Australia lost their captain, Alyssa Healy, for just four runs in the first over. Shortly after, Georgia Wareham was run out for three. Ellyse Perry managed 17 runs off 15 balls, while Ashleigh Gardner added 12 runs from 15 balls. Beth Mooney shone with an unbeaten 43 off 38 balls, hitting four boundaries, as Australia clinched victory by six wickets with 34 balls to spare.
“We adjusted well to the conditions with the ball” - Alyssa Healy reflects as Australia get off to a winning start in the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup
In the post-match presentation, Australia captain Alyssa Healy highlighted the slow nature of the pitch and commended her bowlers for their skill in adapting to the conditions. She said:
“We are off to a good start and I’m happy with that. We were decent without being perfect, we adjusted well to the conditions with the ball. The wickets are a little bit low and slow and we will see how it’s in the next game against Pakistan. We watched a few games earlier here and it came handy for us. (On Wareham at no. 3) We will try a few different things throughout the tournament. We have a few players in our batting lineup to break the game open,” [as quoted by Cricbuzz].
Australia will face New Zealand in their second match of the tournament on Tuesday, October 8.
