‘More hands on deck’: Skipper fumes over covers chaos

The acting captain was frustrated by the abandonment of the second match, with the visitors on the ropes at 8-107, but said nothing more could have been done by staff at the ground as rain lashed the Junction Oval wicket for a second time on Thursday.

Healy was pleased with her bowlers’ performance as they again tore through the West Indies, this time with in-form captain Hayley Matthews back at the top of the order, but Australia’s bid to secure a series win will have to wait until Saturday, with rain again forecast for Melbourne.

She said there were no issues from the players after they moved quickly to help ground staff retrieve the covers after the umpires called off play for a second time.

“Disappointed is probably not the right word. I don’t think they would have been able to get the covers under control without a little bit of help, and fortunately our team was willing to jump in there and do that,” Healy said.

“I’m not disappointed by that, it’s just the nature of what happened out there. That came in really quickly and the wind made it really troublesome for the four guys who were trying to make that happen, so we were more than willing to help.

“Look, if there were more hands on deck they might not have needed as long to get the ground ready potentially to get back out there and play some cricket, so maybe that’s something for discussion.”

The rain halted and sunshine emerged mere minutes after umpires called off the game, but a thunderstorm an hour later likely would have come before Australia was able to claim victory.

“It was a frustrating way to finish – the sun is shining out there right now, so potential for more cricket later, but the rules are the rules I suppose,” Healy said.

“At least we got out there and could play some of the game, but it would have been nice to finish.”

Healy said the team would enjoy some leisure time in Melbourne on Friday before looking to continue their 50-over dominance over the West Indies in the final game.

“I thought the patience with the ball, and to create eight or nine opportunities I think was a great effort on what looked like a really nice batting wicket … we would have loved to go out there and have a bat,” she said.

“We take some confidence in that, we were able to keep Hayley (Matthews) quiet as well which was a good thing and something that we’ve been speaking about, so we’ll take the positives in that regard.

“We’re just looking to come out here and be as clinical as what we have in the last two games.”

Originally published as Australia captain Alyssa Healy frustrated by abandoned ODI