Aussie lament for heartbreak dismissal at 99

Shortly after the flummoxed, nonplussed moment after Alyssa Healey, the captain of Australia, had been dismissed just one short of what would have been her debut Test century, the broadcast feed from Perth went as silent and dark as Australian hopes.

SuperSport was “experiencing technical difficulties ” from the host broadcaster the message on screen read, if only for a minute or so, just enough time for the Australian commentators to recover their composure and force the corks back in the champers. When the pictures from Perth returned, heads had been scratched, breaths caught and heart rates stilled, and, yet, still there was no letting up of the lament.

Delmi Tucker, the South African who had caused said lament, caught Healy off her own bowling as the Australian tried to drive to long-on, but got a leading edge — out for 99, just like her husband, Mitchell Starc at Mohali against India in 2013 when he was caught behind by a diving MS Dhoni off Ishant Sharma. Healy is just the fifth woman to be dismissed for 99 in Test cricket. Four of those have been Australian.

LONG WAIT

The first out on 99 was Betty Snowball for England against Australia at the Oval in 1937, who played 10 Tests and had an average of 40.86. She was, according to Wisden, “just over 5ft tall” and “her outstanding innings was 189 in 222 minutes against New Zealand in 1935, which remained a Test record for half a century”.

Snowball ’ s 10 Tests were played from 1937 to 1949. Healy is playing in her ninth since her first in 2011. That’s a long wait between drinks at the longformat cricket bar, but such is the way of women’s cricket. It’s feast or famine, or both.

Before the Test, Healy told Australian television that the last of women’s Test cricket, called

“criminal” by the presenter, had to be put in “context ”. There was no long-format series for women in Australia and she had to figure out, almost from scratch, how to approach the match in terms of field placings, tactics and composure.

So, apparently, do SA, for whom the wicket of Healy was a rare bright spot on a hard day in Perth. At the same time as the men ’ s Proteas had giveth of their best in New Zealand, the woman then tooketh away some of that joy.

In Hamilton, David Bedingham, in his fourth Test showed that his first-class average of close on 50 made him well suited to the red ball with a splendid 110 from just 141 balls. As Stuart Hess wrote in his match report: “For Bedingham, Thursday was a critical day in which he underlined why he will be a vital part of SA’s Test team in the next few years. It was an innings that was beautifully paced, and rescued the team after the top order struggled again.”

DEBUTANTS

Both SA’s teams, men and women, are full of debutants, with many of them unlikely to play many more Tests. For the men that is because the SA20 is over and with Cricket SA’s bank balance healthier for it the big guns will return. For the women it will be because Perth is their only Test match of 2024. This is also their first Test since 2022, where they drew with England, just their second in 10 years and their first against Australia.

“It ’ s about applying a lot of patience. It’s quite different from the white-ball games. You kind of have to bat for long periods of time and I think the bowlers are going to bowl quite a few overs in there. So today it’s about figuring out how you want to go about it as individuals. Everybody ’ s game plan is going to look quite different. It’s about trying to figure out what works best for you and then taking that into the game,” Nadine de Klerk told ICC.com.

There is a little too much

“kind of”, “I think” and “trying to figure out” from De Klerk in that statement. Eight of Laura Wolvaardt ’ s team fell to catches, all out for a broken 76 before the morning had properly broken in SA. It speaks of a team “experiencing technical difficulties ”.

Friday will not be as hot as Thursday in Perth, where a heatwave had temperatures over 40°C, with predictions for a “mild ” 29°C.

Horse races were cancelled in Perth. The cricket went on and will go on. Healy out for 99 will lift SA’s spirits, but they will need more than spirit if they are fully embrace this rare moment in their careers and have more than a Snowball’s chance of winning.