Women’s Ashes MCG Test an exciting prospect for Australia captain Alyssa Healy

Australia captain Alyssa Healy says the Women’s Ashes day-night Test is unlikely to break all-time attendance records, but is excited to keep trying new things to take the game forward.

Healy spoke to ABC Sport two weeks before the first game of the multi-format series and just over a month before the start of the day-night Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to conclude the Ashes.

The last time a Women’s Ashes series featured a pink-ball Test was 2017, when Ellyse Perry scored a double century in front of a few thousand people at suburban North Sydney Oval.

The Fig Tree Lane venue may have been closer to capacity than the 100,000-seat MCG will be in the 2025 edition, but Healy said she would rather try something new and exciting than play it safe.

“We’re very aware that 87,000 people don’t come through the gates every day, but (someone) asked me, ‘Would you rather play in North Sydney in front of 4,000 or challenge the norm and play at the MCG and see how many we can get ?” she told ABC Sport on day three of the men’s Boxing Day Test.

“Of course, the MCG. We grew up watching Test cricket like everyone else and wanted to run out into our baggy greens.

“So it’s really cool to have that opportunity.”

Healy and the women’s team are no strangers to drawing a crowd to the ‘G’, having won the T20 World Cup in 2020 among 86,174 fans.

The last time Australia’s women played a Test at the MCG was in 1949, meaning the first day of the Test will be exactly 76 years since day three of that match against England.

In the three-Test series, Betty Wilson topped the run-scoring for Australia and wicket-taking for both teams.

Healy said she recently donned Wilson’s kit for a campaign shoot and it was a good reminder of how far the game has come.

“The culotte is no longer a thing and the long stocking – I can safely say that (uniforms have come a long way),” she said.

“I can’t imagine crouching down behind the stumps with that … we look more like cricketers now, thankfully. A lot more sun protection too, which is good.”

The 34-year-old has not had to bend down behind the stumps of late after missing three ODIs against India with a knee injury before returning to play against New Zealand, but not wicketkeeping.

Healy said she planned to don the gloves for the Governor-General’s XI match against England on January 9, three days before the first 50-over match in the Ashes.