The Second Coming: Rachael Haynes and World Cup

Rachael Haynes' second coming to the Australian team probably would have surprised many cricket plaudits. It was the 2017 World Cup when she came out for the toss instead of Meg Lanning. The explanation given for Lanning's absence was a shoulder niggle, which the world later learnt wasn't exactly a niggle.

It just seemed astonishing that a woman who wasn't even in the frame for Australian selection was a 'like for like' replacement for Lanning. Even more surprising was that Haynes was even not considered for the first 11, excluding the 2 matches which she captained. But Rachael Haynes was destined for glory, as they say. Here was somebody who'd been dumped from an Ashes side in 2013 after indifferent form, having just touched the high of being the country's top scorer at a World Cup.

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A weaker mind would have submitted in the wilderness of a superstar-laden Aussie team and the exhaustion of juggling a job and a domestic career. She herself admitted that retirement from cricket was a step away. Then came the 2017 pre-world cup season and Rachael Haynes was almost resilient to make it count. After Australia's shocking exit at the semis of the World Cup in 2017, it was announced that Meg Lanning will miss the Ashes. Haynes found herself catapulted as the captain.

Nobody quite knew why, and nobody explained why. If she was surprised, she just chose a finesse filled innings of 89 in the second Ashes ODI to announce her second coming. With the return of Lanning and the retirement of Alex Blackwell, Rachael Haynes was the permanent vice-captain for Australia in 2018. She was certainly back. The nerves were gone, the artistry had returned. She is that 'fine wine', which her captain refers to her as.

A shrewd reader of the game, she was there almost like a professor giving a masterclass on leadership. Yet, Rachael Haynes often flies under the radar, & she loves being away from the spotlight. Cut to the 2022 Ashes, England were at the brink of an unlikely Test victory after a bold declaration by Lanning. With Nat Sciver striking it well, shoulders were dropping. But the Aussies had one of the sharpest cricketing brains in Haynes.

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It was suddenly she who was setting field positions, and as somebody said - it almost seemed that Rachael Haynes has taken over the captaincy. Fields were set, strategies devised and England probably dint know what hit them. The match was drawn. World Cups and Rachael Haynes. If 2017 was a prelude to a second coming, she had decided that 2022 will be worth remembering. A sharp run a ball 130 in a difficult pitch against a good English attack was just the start as she peeled off runs to cross 400 runs. The 85 in the semis is an innings I will watch over and over again.

Basin Reserve was cloudy, foggy and misty. In other words perfect conditions for seam bowling. And almost deja vu for Australia. It was on a damp foggy day in Derby that they crashed out of the semis in 2017. Haynes made sure that there will be no repeat. The restraint she showed in the power play rubbed off even on Alyssa Healy, her more attacking ODI opening partner and a record partnership of 216 was just the platform Australia needed for a 300 plus score in 45 overs.

Haynes pulled and immaculately timed her way to a 85 off 100 balls. There was no hurry, and hardly any nerves. But nerves aren't what we normally associate with her. She is calm, composed & probably the best cricketing brain in the Australian team. By the time she had finished, West Indies were already deflated at the innings break. Australia won by a thumping margin.

It is almost strange that Rachael Haynes had once thought of retirement. We may never know why Haynes was handpicked by Cricket Australia, but she's surely shown she belongs. 'Fine wine' yes - probably one of the finest.