Last Updated on 4 years by Charbel Coorey
Alyssa Healy passed MS Dhoni’s record for the most dismissals in T20I cricket. In New Zealand’s innings in the second T20 match, the Australian wicketkeeper caught Lauren Down, marking her 92nd dismissal (42 catches and 50 stumpings). The team is already leading in three-match T20 series 2-0, played at Brisbane’s Allan Border Field.
The trait that was started by Dhoni to turn the game by mastering his tricks with the gloves has been seen in Healy too. “There’s a lot of stuff that you do as a wicketkeeper that goes unnoticed,” she said after play. “I’m always really content when I come off the field and I’ve had a good day behind the stumps, and I feel like I had a great day behind the stumps today.”
Even the New Zealand captain Sophie Devine couldn’t hold back and said that Healy’s performance is a fantastic achievement. “She’s been in the Australian set-up for a long, long time … I think she’s grown in confidence with the gloves as well as with the bat, and it probably reflects that in the last couple of years she’s been on a real high”, said Devine.
In the post-match presentation, when Australian cricket commentator Mel Jones compared her to Dhoni, Healy felt it was a stranger discussion as she had no clue about the record-breaking wicket. “I had no idea about it, I wondered why Mel Jones was asking me about MS Dhoni, I thought it was a very strange discussion we were about to have. “It’s obviously a very nice individual accolade but it reflects better on our bowling attack than myself. It just shows the strength of our bowling attack we’ve had throughout my career that they are giving these opportunities. Makes me think about all the ones I’ve missed but at the same it is nice, but it’s more credit to the bowlers”, she said.
Apart from her contribution behind the stumps, she also scored 33 off 17 balls, making it easy for Aussies to seal the series. “There’s probably a little bit of rust floating around with my bat in hand but in saying that when we are chasing down totals like it’s my job to take it to the opposition, see if I can get that run rate down as low as possible for our middle order to get the job done,” Healy said. “Pleasing it came off today and puts me in good stead for the one-day format.”
The third T20I will take place on Wednesday before the three match ODI series beings on October 3.
Written by Anjali Jha. Follow Anjali on Twitter today.
