Image Credit- CA
Although the Australian team has undergone
considerable changes, captain Alyssa Healy believes that losses like the one
they suffered against South Africa can be beneficial for them. Nevertheless,
she supports them as “a really good cricket side” as the multi-format
series prepares for what could be an exciting finale.
Following their historic first-ever triumph over
Australia in all forms in the T20I series, South Africa defeated the host team
in their first-ever ODI on Wednesday. The multi-format scoreline going into
next week’s Test at the WACA would be 6-6 if they win again on Saturday and win
the ODI series.
After being defeated by the West Indies in a Twenty20
International at North Sydney Oval, where Hayley Matthews played one of the
greatest innings in history in an attempt to set a record, Australia has now
lost three matches across all forms this season.
They had earlier given away five opportunities in the
field when they slumped to 71 for 8 in Wednesday’s ODI, but Healy said they
still thought they could win from that position. The surface was flavoured by a
persistent drizzle.
“It’s plain and simple: you can’t afford to be
sloppy and not adapt as quickly as we needed to,” Healy said. “We’ve
proven that over the summer, that when we’ve let ourselves down, even a little
bit, in all three facets we are getting punished. Tomorrow’s a great
opportunity to come out here and be really clinical and perform the way we know
we can.
“We are still a really good cricket side, we
showed in Adelaide how good we can be, just got to turn up tomorrow and do the
same thing then do it repeatedly for long periods of time.”