Alyssa Healy earns the loudest standing ovation of her career for something unexpected: pulling off a beer-balancing feat at the Gabba.
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The Buzz
Alyssa Healy's steady hands
What earned Alyssa Healy the biggest standing ovation of her career? A monumental hundred? A brilliant one-handed grab or a clever stumping? A trophy case full of more titles for Australia? Not at all. It was her ability to juggle beers with ease.
The wife of Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc was at the men’s Ashes Test in Brisbane, strolling through the stands with several cold drinks, much to the crowd’s amusement.
“I got one of my biggest standing ovations at the Gabba,” she told Adam Peacock on the Willow Talk podcast. When Peacock teased her about her Queensland roots, she clarified the moment wasn’t about geography.
“No, I was up there watching Mitch, and I think I was carrying maybe five or six beers back to my seat. I had two in my mouth while I hunted for my ticket. The security guard asked if I needed a hand, and I said, ‘No, I’ve got this,’ and I wandered back in.”
It happened near the Star Wars cosplay crew, where their seating was located. The crowd rose to applaud as she settled back into her seat.
Starc has claimed 18 wickets across the first two Ashes tests, eight of them at the Gabba, where he also led Australia’s first-innings score with 77 in a total of 511.
Starc also shared a light moment, recounted mostly by his teammate Nathan Lyon, about a trip to Josh Hazlewood’s Bendemeer, NSW home. The two bowlers were sharing a room when Lyon recalled:
“I was fast asleep, and suddenly I felt a hand on my back.” Starc then clarified the memory:
“I think it was six in the morning, and Hoff’s (Hazlewood’s) mates had tapped on the window. I rolled over, assuming it was Alyssa, but it wasn’t.”
This recounts a playful slice of Ashes lore that fans enjoyed, mixing cricket prowess with lighthearted backstage moments.
