Australia's Ashes captain Rachael Haynes: 'I’m well-prepared as a leader'
Last month, a number flashed up on Rachael Haynes’ phone. It was Pat Howard, Australia’s high performance manager. Haynes was being handed one of the most onerous tasks in all of sport: replacing Meg Lanning as Australia’s captain. “It was a pretty awesome moment,” Haynes recalls. “It was great to be able to call my family.”
The announcement was both surprising and expected. Surprising, because Haynes was not a regular in Australia’s side, and so seemed to violate one basic dictum of Australian cricket: pick the best 11 players, and only then pick the captain. And expected, because Haynes had deputised for Lanning as captain impressively during two World Cup victories in July.
Now, Haynes does not merely have a game here or there to assert her presence, but an entire Ashes series. “Meg was leading the team and was then trying to manage her way through a pretty significant injury,” says Haynes. “To be named captain for a whole series, it does sort of feel like I’ll be leading, and doing that in my own style.”
Yet Haynes has been appointed largely because her leadership style is considered in keeping with that of Lanning. “If you rewind a few years when Rach was involved in the Australian team, she was identified as the future captain of Australia back then,” national selector Shawn Flegler explained recently. Haynes is viewed as the continuity choice, matching Lanning’s attacking yet understated captaincy. “I’m someone who really enjoys the tactical side of the game and really making sure we’re well-planned and prepared for our opposition,” she explains, promising “a couple of things that are a little bit different” but nothing “too drastic or out of the box.”
From leading in junior cricket, Australian underage teams and domestic cricket – she is one of only two women to have captained both Victoria and New South Wales – there is a sense that all of Haynes’ cricket experiences have been building up to captaining Australia in an Ashes series.
“I’m well-prepared as a leader,” she says. “I don’t feel like I’m going into this series with it being my first time leading a team. I’ve experienced success as a leader and am feeling confident I can lead this team well – it’s something that I’m more than capable of doing. All my cricket experiences and leading various teams along the way will definitely help.”
There remains a certain curiosity about her appointment, given that Haynes was out of the team for four years until her recall in February and has been preferred to Alex Blackwell, who was vice-captain under Lanning and captains Haynes for New South Wales Breakers. “I’m very honoured to have her as the vicecaptain of the side for this series,” Haynes says. “There’s a great mix of leaders within the group. There could have been any number of them who could have been selected as captain. I’m very honoured that it will be me.”
Lanning, who is undergoing shoulder surgery, looms as the ghost at the feast this summer. Haynes expects her to be at most, perhaps even all, games. “Meg’s still very much a part of our team. Although she’s injured she’ll still have a great role to play throughout the series. We’d love to see her along and part of the group.” Lanning has been “extremely supportive” since Haynes was appointed.
Perhaps the bigger question about Haynes is not whether she can adapt to be captain, but how many of Lanning’s missing runs she can make up for. At the age of 30, and after 66 internationals, Haynes has only fleetingly – notably during the 2013 World Cup, when she was named in the team of the tournament – showed the best of herself in international cricket. England will be cheered by the comparison between Lanning’s ODI record against them – an average of 42.64 from 15 games – and the 11.28 Haynes averages in nine ODIs against the Ashes rivals.
“You’re always under pressure when you’re playing international cricket, it can be a pretty cut-throat environment,” she reflects. “I definitely feel like the best is yet to come for me. I know my game a lot better than when I was first selected as a younger player. I feel really confident that I’ve got the skill required to perform at this level.”
Haynes has begun the new domestic season in purring form, with 103 not out and 83 in her first two innings. Not that she alone will be able to make up for Lanning’s lost runs. “She’s one of the best batters in the world so any team that loses a player of that calibre, it’s hard to replace them.” Since Lanning’s injury, Haynes says “it’s almost seen our team take a step up”. She cites Elyse Villani, Nicole Bolton and Beth Mooney as batters who have begun the summer in scintillating form.
When the players take to the field for the series opener, at Allan Border Field on Sunday, they will do so in front of the first soldout women’s match in Australia. “There’s real momentum behind not only women’s cricket but women’s sport,” Haynes reflects. “It’s great to see the public getting behind it because there’s some really great athletes that will be on show. It’s something that the players are really excited about.”
More than anything, Australia’s players relish the opportunity the coming weeks present to leave an underwhelming World Cup behind and reassert their hegemony in the women’s game. “You can’t afford to get bogged down in the past. We’re just looking forward to getting stuck in.” Which just leaves Haynes’ Ashes prediction: “I’m looking at an Australian win.”