Mitchell Starc is looking forward to a packed stadium on the eve of women’s cricket final at Melbourne Cricket Ground on 8th March 2020.
Although he won’t be able to witness it live due to national commitment, he states that homeworld cups are rare and special and he hopes to see his wife Alyssa Healy do wonders in the ICC event.
“It would be phenomenal (to see the MCG packed for the final),” Starc told the Road to the T20 World Cup podcast. “There’s been a lot of work done behinds the scenes … home World Cups are very special and don’t come around too often.
“I was fortunate enough to be part of a World Cup final there and the noise was incredible. It was unlike anything that I’ve ever heard before. I was pretty nervous. The current group is aware of how special it would be but (it would also be special) for previous eras of women’s cricket”- He added.
Starc believes his career highlight was the Aussies lifting the 2015 World Cup. In that match, Starc changed the momentum of the match by bowling out Brendon McCullum in front of 93,013 people in MCG. Starc’s wife Alyssa Healy is hopeful of pulling out similar achievements for her side in the World Cup.
Tournament organizers and Cricket Australia aim for a houseful attendance on the eve of the finale in MCG and break off all the recent records. The current mark is 90,185 at the 1999 FIFA World Cup final.
Starc and Healy both being international cricketers always take time out for each other and their busy cricket schedules rarely overlap; Starc follows the women’s cricket closely whether it is on TV or in person.
He says that the 2017 one-day women’s World Cup in England, where Aussies went through a shocking loss against India was an eye-opener for the side.
“They had a good debrief, good review,” Starc recalled. “The reviews were definitely player-led from what I’ve got out of Alyssa. I don’t ask or pry too much. Alyssa herself probably took that quite personally, how the tournament went … the last two years of her cricket have been pretty phenomenal. It’s no surprise. Definitely for me, having seen how she works behind the scenes … she works really hard on her glovework and batting, and it’s certainly paid off in the last 18-24 months”- Starc added
Loves all things female cricket
