Australia skipper Alyssa Healy felt her team wasn’t sharp enough on the big day and expressed her disappointment at the team’s stunning defeat to India in the ICC Women’s World Cup semifinal on Thursday.
Healy seemed distraught and made it known at the post-match presser. “I think just disappointed with the loss. We were not sharp enough in all three departments in the semifinal and the game slipped away. Not taking anything away from the great performance from India but there’s an element of having let ourselves down,” she added.
The Australian opener was forthright in her assessment of the mistakes the WC favourites made in the five-wicket loss.
“We did really well to get a score like that after winning the toss and batting first. We could have been a bit better and done more. But we’re playing on tracks where these kind of scores can be chased and teams are doing more often these days. I think it’s amazing from the context of the game. We feel we had a bit more to do and we didn’t capitalize much on the opportunities,” she added.
“It feels a bit un-Australian to be not so clinical as we normally are considering how well we have played at this World Cup.”
Healy rues missed opportunity
Healy revealed the dropped catches definitely had a huge bearing on the final outcome of the game. “It definitely changed the course of the match but not semifinal pressure. Maybe concentration lapses, not sure, but nevertheless we put them down and that cost us.”
Elaborating on her disappointment, Healy stated that it seemed like an anti-climax to be where they are now given how well they have been playing lately. “We are playing some unbelievable cricket and that is why it doesn’t feel quite right sitting here. Not getting through to Sunday’s fixture despite different contributions from so many players is disappointing. There are some huge positives and the next four-year cycle heading to the next World Cup is going to be really exciting and will potentially see some really good opportunities for the youngsters,” the Australia opener added.
“This is going to improve the Australian team. We were not able to get the job done tonight which is disappointing.”
Healy praises Jemimah Rodrigues performance
Healy was all praise for Jemimah Rodrigues’ brilliant effort with the bat but confessed that they let her off the hook with their poor fielding.
“I think we were still in it with 4-5 overs to go. Funny things happen in the games of cricket when things get tight like that and things can unfold. She played really well tonight and we gave her opportunities which didn’t help us and her mental resilience was exemplary,” she added.
Summarizing the tournament, Healy felt it was the most closely fought World Cup she has ever played in.
“I think its really cool that you will have a new World Cup winner on Sunday. It’s probably the showcase of this tournament and I know many people have told me that this has been the closest ODI World Cup tournament we’ve had. There were genuinely eight teams for the final contention.”
