Australian captain Alyssa Healy has revealed she played the stand-alone Women's Ashes Test with two broken fingers, as her side forged an 89-run victory at Trent Bridge.
After leading Australia to its first Test win since 2015, Healy confirmed she had carried two broken fingers into the match.
In an extraordinary showing of courage, the 32-year-old batted and kept wicket across the five days – posting an important half-century and racking up six dismissals.
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Addressing the media, Healy admitted she had struggled to grip the bat, causing her voluntary demotion to No.8 in Australia's second innings.
"I was feeling like I was copping a bit of grief in the media and on the field when I walked out at eight and I was getting the sense that no one really knew what was going on," she said.
"This is what I've been dealing with for the last seven days leading into the Test match.
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"So I let (commentator) Mel Jones slip that bit of information, so that people could fully understand what was going on.
"It is what it is, it happens as a wicketkeeper, you get knocks on the fingers and unfortunately for me, it was one on each hand, so it made it incredibly difficult in particular batting and being able to grip the bat after keeping for 110 overs."
Healy was hopeful she would be fit to captain Australia in the remaining six white-ball matches of the multi-format Ashes series, however she will be assessed this week in Birmingham.
Watch the day five highlights package in the video player above!
GARDNER GETS ANOTHER BAG
Ashleigh Gardner took an astonishing eight wickets in the second innings to seal victory for Australia.
The classy all-rounder finished the job by removing Danni Wyatt on 54 – her delivery striking Wyatt on the pad as she attempted to hit through the leg side.
Wyatt took the decision upstairs but the review proved that the ball would have toppled the middle and leg stumps.
Taking 8-66, Gardner secured the second-best innings figures in women's Test history, and the most wickets by an Australian woman.
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