Women's T20 World Cup 2024: Will Alyssa Healy Carry Forward The Meg Lanning Legacy?

Australia Women's Cricket Team [Source: @CricketAus/x.com]

When it comes to the quality in Women's cricket, Australia is a league above all the others. They have dominated the women's cricket scenario and have made it a habit of winning the World Cups. 

The Australian team will be looking to continue their dominance and win their fourth consecutive world title during the Women's T20 World Cup 2024. But it is a new era in Australian cricket. Their legendary skipper Meg Lanning has hung up her boots and the onus is on Alyssa Healy to carry the legacy left behind by Lanning forward.  

Australia will be starting their campaign against Sri Lanka on the 5th of October. Before they embark on their title defence journey, let us look at the squad in the depth and analyse their chances in the tournament. 

Australia Women's Squad for T20 World Cup 2024

Batters: Alyssa Healy, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney

All-rounders: Ashleigh Gardner, Kim Garth, Grace Harris, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland

Bowlers: Darcie Brown, Sophie Molineux, Megan Schutt, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

Strengths of the Australian Women's Team ahead of T20 World Cup 2024

Plethora of all-rounders

The Australian team has a plethora of all-rounders in their team. Players like Ashleigh Gardner, Grace Harris, Alana King, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry and Annabel Sutherland add depth and flexbility to both the departments of the team. With such a long list of versatile and impactful all-rounders in their arsenal, Australia look like a team ready for all kinds of conditions and situtions. 

Depth in the bowling department 

Australia have Asheligh Gardner, Alana King, Sophie Molineux, and Georgia Wareham providing a solid look to their spin department. While they have such depth in the spin department, they have the likes of Tahlia McGrath, Annabel Sutherland, Darcie Brown and Megan Schutt in the pace department. This shows the dynamism and depth they have in both pace and spin department. 

Presence of big hitters

The Australian batting have the likes of Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Annabel Sutherland, who can stabilise the innings for the team with the bat. Besides having such batters, they have Alyssa Healy, Phoebe Litchfield, Tahlia McGrath, and Grace Harris. These batters can bat around the stabilisers and increase the scoring rate at their own free will. Power hitting will not be a concern for Australia during the torunament. 

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Weaknesses of the Australian Women's Team ahead of T20 World Cup 2024

Batting against spinners

The Australian team has struggled against spinners. During the one-off Test match that Australia played against India at their own home ground (2023), the batters struggled against the spinners. On the UAE picthes, where the spinners will dominate most of the proceedings, the team might struggle to put on formidable totals. 

Captaincy of Alyssa Healy

Under Meg Lanning the Australian team looked invincible. The Meg Lanning-led team found ways to come back in a match or win a game from the toughest of positions. However, under Alyssa Healy they have looked a bit vulnerable. The invincibilty seems to have faded off a bit under Healy. Even though they are still the strongest team in the tournament, the other teams will believe that this Australian outfit can be defeated.

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