Alyssa Healy rejects Meg Lanning claim as Aussie cricket captain calls for key change

Alyssa Healy has rejected claims the dynasty of the Australian women's cricket is ending following their first Test loss in nearly a decade. With Meg Lanning and Rachael Haynes retiring from international cricket recently, Healy led a rather inexperienced side into last week's women's Test against India.

The Aussies made a number of uncharacteristic mistakes and stumbled to their first-ever Test loss against India, going down by eight wickets. It also marked Australia's first defeat in a women's Test match since January 2014, with Lanning's absence glaringly obvious.

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After winning their fourth-straight global ICC event earlier this year at the 50-over World Cup, the Aussie women's side has suffered somewhat of a decline. They retained the Ashes in July, but only via a drawn multi-format series.

That tour saw them lose four of the six white-ball matches, but Australia's win in the Test was enough to see them finish level on overall points with England and hold onto the trophy (because the Test was worth more). The current tour of India isn't a multi-format series this time, but the defeat in the one-off Test continues a difficult period.

But when quizzed on whether the defeat suggested Australia's unprecedented period of dominance is ending, Healy was emphatic in her response. "It's probably not even a blip," the new captain said.

"It (Test cricket) is a format where we're not overly familiar with, in conditions that we're not familiar with. I see more positives out of this and than any sort of negativity.

"There is always a lot of expectation and external noise about our team and how we're performing. They are so used to seeing us winning, that I think, at times, they forget that we've actually seen quite a lot of change over the last 12 to 18 months. That kind of goes unnoticed external to our group."

Healy said the Aussies are keen to re-assert their dominance in the three ODIs and three T20s that will follow. "Within our group we're really comfortable with where we're at, and the progression we're on," she said.

"Ultimately there's a big T20 World Cup in Bangladesh towards the end of next year, that is a real carrot for us. These are the sort of big trophies that we're we're wanting to win.

"And yes, every series in between now and then is important, but at the same time we're building towards that World Cup. Maybe you can ask me that (supremacy) question at the end of the six white-ball games to see how we're going and we can answer that. These next six games will probably give us a better indication about how we're tracking but also what we might need to improve on."

Alyssa Healy wants more women's Tests on cricket calendar

Meanwhile, Healy has called for more women's Tests and reckons the India series should have been best of three. "It would create a real contest over three games," Healy said.

"That would be an unbelievable experience for our group, and probably a true test of of both sides' abilities. The one-off Test, India playing in their home conditions, you'd expect them to be heavy favourites.

"But the way we tried to adapt and continue to learn throughout the four days was really impressive. We would love to have another crack at it, show what we learned and put it into practice."

The last women's Test series that featured more than one match was way back in 2006, while India hadn't hosted any red-ball cricket for nine years before this summer. "The nature of the female game at the moment is it's very white-ball dominant," Healy said.

"Trying to fit it all in to the calendar and fitting all the white-ball games in seems to take precedence. But you take three one-day games out, and we could probably play two more Test matches."

with AAP

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