With less than a month to go for the riveting contest between Australia and India, the 24-year old Australian quick Maitlan Brown is determined to make it into the playing XI for the upcoming multi-format series.
Getting selected into the Australian squad is nothing less than a miracle for Brown, who was out of action for nine long months due to a hamstring injury that was caused while she was attempting to play a sweep shot in the WBBL last November. This happened just one month after she was selected in the national squad to play against New Zealand in Brisbane.
From walking with the help of crutches to becoming fully fit to represent Australia, the right arm speedster, who moved from Canberra to Sydney to play for NSW Breakers has come a long way.
With Aussie ace Megan Schutt opting to sit out of the India series citing personal reasons, it is a golden opportunity for Maitlan Brown to make her mark. “
That’s a position I will be eyeing off, Schutter swings it up front and she’s really good at the death and that’s similar to what I do,” Brown told the reporters on August 19.
She added, “I think I thought last summer (would be my year) but the unfortunate timing of the injury sucked. But everything at the moment seems to be lining up for me to make a good comeback.”
This series is very crucial for both India and Australia, keeping the next year’s Women’s Cricket World Cup in mind which starts early 2021. India is also scheduled to travel to Australia in January 2021 for a limited-over series to adjust to the situations and finalize the best playing 15 squads for the much-awaited tournament of the year 2022.
Talking about her recovery, Brown, an industrial design graduate said to cricket.com.au, “It was a rollercoaster. I stayed in the WBBL hub after I had my surgery and had a lot of my mates around me. That was a smart idea (to stay) because I thrive off that and having them lift me up and being able to bounce off them was really good. But it was hard when I left and I was on my own and I felt a bit lonely at times … hobbling around on my crutches, watching my boyfriend go out on the bike and everyone else train. It ebbed and flowed in terms of emotions, but I was really fortunate I had my industrial design. I was able to channel my energy into designing and creating fun things and that distracted me and made the time fly a little quicker, so I was grateful I had that.”
Like many of the girls in Australia, Brown idolized Ellyse Perry, who also underwent her own arduous recovery from a similar hamstring injury last year.
Brown stated, “I was able to chat to her and get a bit of an idea of what her journey looked like. We’ve been texting back and forth a bit of banter, if I was in the shops I’d send her a pic of a packet of ham off the bone. We kept in touch throughout the whole journey … We chatted yesterday and were saying how excited we are to meet up and compare scars. She was really great support. I looked up to Ellyse when I was younger and now playing alongside her is really cool.”
24-year-old Maitlan Brown is excited to be playing with her idol Ellyse Perry 😍 #AUSvIND @Maitlanb @EllysePerry pic.twitter.com/RmZuP9sMGq
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) August 19, 2021
Maitlan Brown seems to have recovered well as she is back to bowling her usual speeds of 115-120 kph. It will be interesting to see if she gets a go against India in the upcoming series.
This article is the summary of the original article published by Cricket Australia
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