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Alyssa Healy won't let her run of outs change her attacking approach to cricket, insisting she is confident she can come good for the Twenty20 World Cup.
Alyssa Healy insists her aggressive approach can pay off at the Twenty20 World Cup and she is still hitting the ball as well as ever despite her run of outs.
Healy has scored just 24 runs in her past six innings, with her slump coming at the worst possible time heading into Friday's tournament opener against India.
Australia's hero of the 2018 Twenty20 World Cup success, Healy has been the ICC's T20 player of the year for the past two years.
She also began the summer with two centuries against Sri Lanka, with her performances at the top set to be crucial in Australia's title defence.
But Healy insisted she need not change anything, adamant runs would come and she was not out of form.
"I have been hitting the ball fine and just haven't been out there long enough to lose any form," Healy said.
"It's the fickle nature of cricket and the Twenty20 format. I like to take the game on and, unfortunately, sometimes you get low scores.
"Hopefully, come Friday, I get a little bit of luck come my way and I can put a score on the board."
Healy hit 225 runs at 55.25 in the 2018 World Cup, while her 950 runs in 2018 and 2019 came at a strike rate of above 155.
And she said coaching staff had been clear they did not want her to change or for the lack of runs to cloud her confidence.
"My mindset hasn't changed," she said.
"The messaging I am getting from (captain) Meg (Lanning) and the coaching staff and the selectors is to not change - and to just go out there and enjoy my cricket.
"It is going to come off at some point and it might not other times. The last two years has been an incredible ride and, hopefully, I can continue that."
The intense microscope on Healy's form - and the team's overall batting performances headed into a home World Cup - comes at an interesting juncture for the women's game.
Players have long called for more analysis of their performances, as the game turns fully professional.
"We actually remarked on it today ... the amount of interest in how the squad is tracking from a form point of view is a little unprecedented," Ellyse Perry said.
"I have been quite vocal about this, pushing for people to take more interest in how the team is playing and being more critical and analysing the game.
"Because that shows people are really interested and they care how the squad is going.
"It's Midge's (Healy's) turn in the spotlight at the moment but, from a team point of view, she is hitting the ball really well."
"She's been playing some really good cricket for the last 24 months. And that doesn't flip on its head in a few weeks."
