Australian Alyssa Healy has just enough time to pass the series of set tests to prove her fitness as per Cricket Australia’s concussion policy ahead of her team’s ICC Women’s World T20 semi-finals against West Indies on Thursday.
The wicketkeeper-bat, who is the tournament’s highest run-getter, suffered a mild concussion during her team’s 48-run loss to against India on Sunday. She has four days to undergo and pass those tests, where only one step can be completed per day, and players can only progress to the next stage if they are without symptoms, according to the Cricket Australia website.
Australia flew to Antigua on Sunday for the semi-final on Thursday, which has given Healy the exact number of days to prove her recovery.
Healy hurt herself after a nasty collision with teammate Megan Schutt in the 19th over of India’s innings. Healy and Schutt, the bowler, collided with each other as they attempted to take the catch of Arundhati Reddy. Healy’s face was knocked into Schutt’s shoulder and she immediately fell to the ground in pain.
After a brief medical check, Healy walked off the field and appeared disoriented as she was leaving. Australia’s coach Matthew Mott said the 28-year-old was feeling “groggy” after but she was recovering. The incident left her with a black eye as well.
Australian team doctor Pip Inge said she is feeling better and outlined the steps she will have to undertake.
“Rest...being sensible with things, removing a lot of stimulus. The next step is elevating your heart rate a little bit and being able to do a bit of activity like jumping on the [stationary] bike or going for a bit of a run and making sure you don’t get a return of any symptoms,” Inge was quoted as saying on cricket.com.au.
“Then it’s doing some skill work, low-impact, non-contact stuff – for Midge [Healy] she’ll do things like throw downs with coaches and some remedial keeping work. Then if that’s all okay, you go to a full training session, you face bowlers, you put yourself under pressure. And if that’s okay you get to play.”
In Healy’s absence, her opening partner, Beth Mooney, took over the gloves, while Elyse Villani opened the innings. The Southern Stars missed the presence of Healy against India, who was the Player of the Match in their last three games with two half-centuries and a 48.
