Australia Star Suffers Injury on Field during Women's World Cup, Physios Rush to Her Aid as she Cries out in Pain

In the beginning of the match, right-arm pacer Tayla Vlaeminck suffered a dislocated bowling shoulder just four balls in. Later on, during the match, Alyssa Healy seemed to have strained her hamstring while attempting a second run. Unfortunately, she was unable to continue batting and had to retire hurt.

Playing her first World Cup match in six years, Vlaeminck, brought into the side to add more depth to the pace bowling department of Australia, suffered the nasty injury just four balls into the match while trying to stop a boundary off Pakistan batter Muniba Ali's bat. Vlaeminck, standing at short third, chased the ball right till the end and then put a slide to stop it from touching the ropes but her knee got dug into the ground, flinging her in the air, forcing her to land awkwardly on her shoulders.

She immediately grabbed her shoulder and lay on the boundary line with an agonising look on her face. Her Australian teammates were visibly concerned by the turn of events. The physios rushed to attend to her. The 25-year-old's shoulder was relocated but the extent of damage remains a concern.

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This was Vlaeminck's third shoulder dislocation. She dislocated her left shoulder playing for Victoria in the 2017-18 season. Then, during the Australia A tour of England, which coincided with last year's Women's Ashes, she dislocated the same shoulder again while bowling, which led to corrective surgery.

"It's obviously horrible seeing one of your mates go down and knowing Tay's road to get back to here," said Australia all-rounder Ash Gardner said. "She's someone that probably works harder than anyone else I know so to see someone like that go down with another injury, we all really felt for her.

"There were people that were obviously emotional and things like that and I think that just shows the care that we have for our team-mates and especially Tay. She's worked so hard to get back here and she's earned it, so to see her go down like that, we had to regroup really quickly."

Just as the Australian players were recovering from this, captain Healy hobbled off the field with a grimace on her face barely a couple of hours later.

Healy was seen limping up the stairs to the changing room, and Cricket Australia later announced that she had sustained a severe injury to her right foot. Plans were in place for her to have scans on Saturday, after which the extent of her participation in the tournament would likely be determined.

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What remains undeniable is Australia's capacity to navigate through these challenges.

Australia next face India in their last group-stage match on Sunday.