Now that Australia are through to the semi-finals of the Women's World T20, and have a few days off, they've planned a round of golf and intend to go through with it even though they've been warned that there might be anacondas lurking. And why wouldn't they, with Alyssa Healy looking practically indestructible.
The 28-year-old wicketkeeper began by smashing the tournament's fastest fifty and has now helped seal her team's progress into the knockouts with 53 off 38 balls against New Zealand. Along the way, she picked up her third successive Player of the Match award. No wonder former Australia batsman Mel Jones quipped, "I'd back Alyssa Healy against the anacondas, the way her form's been at the moment."
Megan Schutt, for one, is pleased she's back on the same side as Healy. "I've been on the receiving end of it a few times in Big Bash, but to see it so consistently out here at an Australian level is really pleasing," she said. "I know she's bloody worked hard in the off-season. We had a chance to be in our home states and actually have a pre-season. And she's showing how much that actually helps to just kind of take some time and really work hard and come out and play that kind of cricket."
Schutt was excellent herself, picking up three wickets to help defend a total of 153. But it took a while for her to get into rhythm. "Look, after the five wides at the start I was a little bit worried it could have been a bad day again."
She'd conceded 30 runs in her four overs against Ireland before this. "I was feeling okay. Just you feel let down a little bit, kind of, after a match like that. But at the end of the day we won. Had we lost and I had lost us the game, I would have been pretty bummed. It's cricket, those games happen."
A large part of Schutt's success as a fast bowler comes from her variations. "For me slower balls and back of the hands and that sort of stuff is what I love to bowl. And here it grips a little bit more and there's be some pretty big turn out there for myself. I love playing on wickets like this."
But she takes care not to experiment too much. "I'm probably not going to bowl a risky ball if they need a boundary off that kind of ball. But I don't know; it's just what I feel when I'm out there."
Schutt was pleased that she and her team were able to do so well against a strong side like New Zealand. They picked up three wickets within the Powerplay and even managed to keep a lid on Suzie Bates, even as she threatened to cut loose. "I think it was a really good challenge for us and something that we probably needed. But I think it's moments like that where you just need to take a deep breath. I think that's what we did out there and probably would have panicked maybe 12, 18 months ago, but it's something we worked on and it was nice to see it out there today."