To mark one year until the start of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, Australian wicket-keeper Alyssa Healy set a new record for the ‘highest catch of a cricket ball’ in an attempt organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Healy caught a ball dropped from a drone 80 metres above the MCG turf – the height of the top of the light towers at the famous venue – breaking the record of 62 metres set by Englishman Kristan Baumgartner in 2016.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain had held the previous record of 49 metres.
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“After I didn’t get a hand on the first practice and then the next one went straight through my gloves there was cause for concern,” 28-year old Healy said after her early attempts at a 64m catch were unsuccessful.
“You don’t get the cue from the ball going up in the air off the bat and it was swinging a lot on the way down because it just gets dropped.
After successfully catching the ball released by a drone at 65.2 m and 72.3 m, the Australian international’s final record now stands at 82.5 m (270.66 ft).
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Afterwards, a bowled over Alyssa said: “It was pure elation to get the Guinness World Records title. I didn’t want everyone to come and not get the record so, when I’d secured it in the gloves, I carried on like a bit of a pork chop but overjoyed to break the record.”
The final of the of the 23-match T20 World Cup, which gets underway on 21 February 2020, will be played at the MCG on 8 March 2020 – International Women’s Day.
Healy was the 2018 ICC T20 International Player of the Year, achieving the Belinda Clark Medal at the Australian Cricket Awards earlier this month.
She has won four ICC T20 World Cup titles (2010, 2012, 2014, 2018) and was player of the tournament at the most recent ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2018.
Doug Male, Head of PR, EMEA APAC, Guinness World Records, said: “This record attempt has been an opportunity to inspire women in sport to achieve greatness.”
“Guinness World Records wants to help people realise their potential and to re-examine the world.”
The MCG, venue for the record attempt, has numerous records of its own, including the largest cricket ground (100,024 capacity), first Test match (15-19 March 1877 between Australia and England) and highest attendance for a single day of a Test match (91,092 on day one of the Boxing Day Test/4th Ashes Test between Australia and England on 26 December 2013).
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