“I look forward to that challenge and test my body, physically and mentally”
“There’s obviously ongoing chats about it,” Healy said. “I think the approach we took in that last Test match we played was we’ll see how we go. I mean, if things don’t quite go to plan, we’re out in the field for an extended period of time and I am feeling fatigued then we make that call on the fly and maybe I don’t open the batting. But I’m always going to stick my hand up and say I’m ready to go and ready to contribute whether that be at the top of the order or with the gloves, so I’m sure it will be okay.
“Hopefully, we get the full four days in and I’m out there for all four days. I look forward to that challenge and test my body, physically and mentally. The chats are being had but at this point in time, considering it’s such a one-off event for us, I want to be involved as much as I can.”
Healy has had remarkable success opening the batting in the shorter formats and suggested that it remained, to her mind, the best place to bat in in Test cricket too.
“I still think opening the batting is the best time to bat in any format,” Healy said. “It’s going to be a little bit tricky, obviously with the new red ball, but I’m looking forward to the opportunity and the challenge that the England attack are going to throw at us.”
Healy was keen for some time in the middle coming off one of her leanest WBBL campaigns. In her last nine matches, including in the WBBL, the WNCL and the first T20I against England, she has only reached double-figures four times and passed 20 once, scoring 51 for NSW against Victoria.
“I feel like everything’s back where it should be for me at the crease, and whilst it may or may not have looked like it in the first T20, I feel like I’m in a really good place with my batting again”
Alyssa Healy
But Healy does have a history of coming off lean spells and delivering on the big stage, having starred in the 2020 T20 World Cup after a horror spell in the lead-in.
“I’m actually a little bit quietly excited about the opportunities of some slightly longer-format cricket, obviously the Test match and then the one-dayers leading into a World Cup,” Healy said. “I feel like everything’s back where it should be for me at the crease, and whilst it may or may not have looked like it in the first T20, I feel like I’m in a really good place with my batting again.
“So I’m really excited for the opportunity to spend a bit of time out in the middle and, hopefully, get my team into a really good position to win whether it be a Test match or a one-dayer.”
“Absolutely no idea. We haven’t even had that discussion yet. We were just trying to get through these T20s. I don’t know the chat around Moons, I’m not really sure where they’re at with her, whether or not she’s playing, not going to play, likely to play, so I can’t really answer that question,” Healy said. “But I’ve got no doubt that we’ve got a lot of coverage here and obviously with the Aussie A squad around, someone would come in and do a really good job. Whoever it might be, I’ll just welcome them to the crease like I did Meg [Lanning] the other night.”
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo