Australian cricketer Mitchell Starc has made a surprising revelation about using his wife Alyssa Healy’s bat in the Ashes 2023 series. According to Starc, Healy, who is leading Australia in the women’s Ashes, has no knowledge of this incident. Starc credited Healy’s bat for his recent performances with the bat in the the longest format.
This unique situation makes Starc possibly the first player in history to walk out for a men’s Test match using his wife’s cricket bat. But that has now been the case for the past seven months for Starc, who prefers the lighter pick up on Healy’s bat to the one he was using previously.
“It’s a little bit lighter. (South Africa’s) Anrich Nortje was bowling pretty fast through the summer, so I used a lighter bat. She didn’t know it was gone, so it was fine,” the 33-year-old was quoted as saying by PerthNow.
“I was cleaning out a few cricket bags at home, she was away on a tour. I said, ‘You know there’s three bats in this bag’ and she didn’t know. I said, ‘There’s two now, the other’s in my bag,” the Aussie-left-arm pacer further added.
Starc’s decision to switch to his wife’s bat has certainly yielded positive results for him. In the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) final against India, Starc scored 41 runs in the second innings that eventually helped Australia secure a convincing victory by 209 runs.
Continuing his form in the Ashes 2023 series, Starc played a crucial role in the second Test against England at Lord’s. The southpaw chipped in with 15 not out off 40 deliveries in the second essay to help Australia stretch their target to 370 against the hosts. The team went on to win the match by 43 runs, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the five-match series.
In the third Test at Headingley, Starc once again made a handy contribution with the bat. He scored 16 runs from 19 deliveries, aiding Australia in setting a challenging target of 250 runs for England. However, despite his efforts, England managed to secure a nail-biting victory by three wickets, reducing Australia’s lead to 2-1 in the series.
Interestingly, both Starc and Healy are sponsored by Kookaburra, so it is not the first time they have exchanged bats.
Starc further mentioned that Healy had previously played with his bat during parts of the 2016-17 Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), where she scored 55 runs off 38 balls against the Sydney Thunder and 46 runs from 31 balls in another match against Perth, using his bat.
“It’s one-all because she took one of mine a few years ago. She cut the end of the handle off, so it was no good to me after that,” Starc concluded.
While Starc’s batting performances have been commendable, his bowling has not been overshadowed. In the Ashes 2023 series, the Aussie speedster has already taken 13 wickets in two Tests.
