The last three ICC events have shown that Australia knows a thing or two about overcoming setbacks. In the 2020 T20 World Cup Australia lost its opening match, while in the 2022 ODI World Cup and 2023 T20 World Cup, it lost its warm-up matches, but recovered when it mattered to romp to the titles.
However, in the ongoing Women’s T20 World Cup, it is faced with more misfortune as the defending champion is faced with potentially losing Tayla Vlaeminck and skipper Alyssa Healy to injuries during its thrashing of Pakistan by nine wickets in Dubai on Friday.
Aussies know too well that lightning can strike the same person constantly, making it hard for them to live out their sporting dreams. Take Will Pucovski. With 13 concussion experiences, he was forced to consider retirement for his own welfare by Cricket Australia’s medical panel. On the other side of the aisle is Vlaeminck, whose start-stop career has once again been rocked by a major injury.
Vlaeminck missed the last three World Cups due to injury and was raring to go ahead of this one where the Aussies were vying for their fourth T20 World title in a row. But that dream came crashing down when she dislocated her shoulder while trying to stop a boundary from Muneeba Ali in the fourth ball of the Pakistan innings.
Rotten luck again
A thick outside edge off Muneeba’s bat shot past the ground, with Vlaeminck giving chase. However, as she slid down to scoop the ball away from the rope, her left knee dug into the turf and she fell on her right bowling arm which extended awkwardly, leaving her writhing in pain past the boundary pads. Concerned teammates looked on as the physios rushed to her. Sophie Molineux, who was with Vlaeminck, looked deeply worried, as did skipper Healy.
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It was heartbreak for the 25-year-old Vlaeminck, who was playing only the second World Cup game of her career and her first since 2018. Vlaeminck came into the senior side that year having already undergone two ACL reconstructions. She first dislocated her left shoulder while playing for Victoria in the 2017/18 season. She suffered a second dislocation to the same arm during last year’s Women’s Ashes which mandated surgery.
In the photos of the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia, Vlaeminck can be seen sporting a moon boot after suffering stress fractures to her foot. The same injury also ruled her out of the 2022 ODI WC in New Zealand, the Commonwealth Games and the 2023 T20 World Cup in South Africa.
The recurring foot issues – a persistent injury to the navicular bone – prompted the Australian medical side to look outside the box for solutions including enlisting the services of Dr. Sue Mayes, Principal Physiotherapist of The Australian Ballet.
“With a navicular injury, it’s really all about just making sure that everywhere along the chain in the legs, what we call the kinetic chain, is efficient and the landing force is dissipated,” team physio Kate Beerworth had said in 2021.
The focus was on the muscles in her feet – called intrinsics – and ensuring the support to the bone was strengthened. Her rehab also involved working intensively on strengthening her calves, hip and up the trunk so that she could land to bowl without putting too much force on the inside part of her foot.
The pacer, who has registered impressive speeds in the 120 kmph range, came into this World Cup eyeing a shot at breaching the 130 kmph barrier. She managed impressive returns with the ball in Australia’s tour of Bangladesh earlier this year and with the A-side against Minnu Mani-led India A at home a few months ago.
Her blinder to dismiss Shuba Satheesh, with the ball darting into the stumps leaving the opener bamboozled underlined just what Vlaeminck is capable of when her body cooperates.
However, in her first World Cup game of the tournament, she didn’t even get to bowl. It was a cruel turn of fate for someone who has only ever wanted to compete.
As she was being attended, Ellyse Perry – sensing the mood of the group and seeing the worried faces around – drew the team into a huddle.
“It’s obviously horrible seeing one of your mates go down and knowing Tay’s road to get back here, she’s someone that probably works harder than anyone else I know. So to see someone like that go down with another injury… we all really feel for her,” Ashleigh Gardner said after the game.
“We had to regroup really quickly and Pez brought us all in and reverted to the Mackay incident (from a few weeks ago where Gardner and Georgia Wareham collided in training, triggering an injury scare before the World Cup besides prompting the former’s withdrawal from the first T20I vs NZ). That erupted pretty quickly and the idea (of remembering that) was to make sure everyone was okay and just got on with it.
“Tay is in good spirits which is nice to see.”
Balance disrupted?
However, the night only got progressively worse for the Aussies with skipper Healy sustaining an injury to her foot as she took charge of hacking down the 83-run target as quickly as possible.
In the 10th over, Healy seemed to have stepped the wrong way and ended up hobbling back to the crease, grimacing in pain all through. However, preliminary checks have thrown up an acute foot injury which will need close monitoring over the next few days.
Australia skipper Healy (L) walks away as she retires out during the match against Pakistan. | Photo Credit: AP
“We lost Tayla pretty early in the game, which was pretty devastating. The players were probably pretty shaken out there and she’s got a dislocated shoulder that’s now back in place. That’s just a matter of assessing that in the next 24 hours and sort of seeing where that finishes up. Alyssa coming off at the end with a foot injury as well… it’s pretty early days,” coach Shelly Nitschke said after the game.
Nitschke held back from committing to any personnel changes in light of the two casualties in the lineup. Healy, in particular, sitting out not only disrupts fielding balance with potentially Beth Mooney having to step up with the gloves but also takes out an aggressive batter who loves the high-pressure stakes of a tournament’s business end.
There is the option to fly in replacements too with the likes of Georgia Redmayne and Jess Jonassen waiting in the wings, but that’s a call for after the team gets some clarity about the two injuries. Until then, Nitschke is focusing on not taking on any more anxiety than what’s required.
Australia takes on India in its final group fixture in the Women’s T20 World Cup in Sharjah on Sunday. With three wins in three games so far, the defending champion is comfortably placed in the semifinal race.
The side is no stranger to late injury hiccups having lost Perry to a hamstring injury mid-tournament in 2020. That said, the Aussies will hope for good news about its leader, in particular, as the tournament nears its do-or-die phase.
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