Healy, Vlaeminck injuries mar Aussie World Cup march
Australia have all but cemented their place in the T20 World Cup semi-finals yet their nine-wicket cakewalk triumph against Pakistan has come at a cost with major injury concerns over captain Alyssa Healy and luckless pace ace Tayla Vlaeminck.
Skipper Healy limped out with a calf problem, stricken when she taking a swift second run while guiding her side on what had looked a trouble-free chase after they’d skittled out Pakistan for just 82 in Dubai on Friday.
After she’d retired hurt on 37, Ellyse Perry (22no) then guided the champions to the easiest of victories in just 11 overs as they moved unbeaten on to six points, with a last-four place practically assured.
Yet while there was concern over the captain’s fitness, there was also huge sadness in the camp for injury-plagued Vlaeminck, who dislocated her right shoulder while fielding in the very first over of the match.
“We’ll assess the damage. Heartbroken for those two girls at the moment, but we’ll find out more in the coming days,” said Tahlia McGrath, the vice-captain, afterwards.
Vlaeminck, perhaps the fastest bowler in the world, had been given a chance to shine in her first match of the tournament but never got the opportunity, with her accident coming just four balls into the match.
Chasing down the ball to the third-man boundary with full commitment, the 25-year-old jagged her left knee into the turf while trying to prevent the four and tumbled over onto her shoulder.
It was the latest setback to bedevil Vlaeminck, who had been looking forward to displaying her brilliance injury-free at a global championship after years of problems and surgeries on her foot, knee and left shoulder.
After she had to be helped from the field, Vlaeminck did have her shoulder relocated by medics, who said the extent of the injury would be known following further assessment.
Yet the early shock didn’t stop the Australian march as Healy gathered the team around her to rally them, and they didn’t miss Vlaeminck’s pace as their abundant bowling riches enabled them to skittle Pakistan for the lowest score of the tournament to date.
It was another landmark day for Megan Schutt (1-7 off 3 overs), who’d already become the T20 World Cup’s top wicket-taker in the previous match, as she became the all-time leading wicket-taker in all T20 internationals.
The 31-year-old had Sadaf Shamas caught behind sharply by Healy for her 144th scalp in the short-format game, taking Schutt past Pakistan’s own Nidar Dar, who went wicketless as Australia chased down the target.
Ash Gardner was player of the match for her 4-21, featuring three wickets in the penultimate over of the innings, while there were two wickets apiece for medium pacer Annabel Sutherland (2-15 off 2.5 overs) and spinner Georgia Wareham (2-16 off 4) as the Australians were suffocatingly accurate throughout the innings.
In reply, Healy, who had also been in fine form behind the stumps with her catch and two smart stumpings, went past 1000 World T20 runs and looked in good nick as she hammered five boundaries – one more than the entire Pakistan team managed between them – in the 23 balls she faced before her cruel mishap.
Beth Mooney’s was the only wicket to fall after she’d made a run-a-ball 15 and Perry guided them home to a 14th successive T20 World Cup victory against a Pakistan side already dispirited by the absence of their skipper Fatima Sana, who had flown home after the death of her father.
Mathematically, there’s still the slimmest possibility Australia could be edged out of a semi-final spot, but India would have to beat them by a huge margin on Sunday and New Zealand win their two matches emphatically for that to occur.
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