How Alyssa Healy took her chances and ushered in a golden era for Australian women’s cricket

Along with Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry, Healy has long been regarded as one of the best of the highly talented generation of Australian cricketers who came through the ranks in the late 2000s. She was the niece of former Australian gloveman Ian Healy and herself took many wickets behind the stumps. No goalkeeper has more international suspensions in the women’s game.

As Jodie Fields’ career wound down, Healy was given several opportunities before taking up the gloves full-time. Her work there was respected, but Healy’s batting became frustrating for a time. During the first seven years of her career, she looked a much better player than the under-20 average in ODIs and T20s, and members of the Australian coaching staff puzzled over that fact.

After the team’s failure to reach the final of the 2017 ODI World Cup in England, Lanning and coach Matthew Mott were forced to improve things. Intent on making the most of the offensive talent in their batting order, but also adding another pitcher to the mix, they decided to accept the suggestion — made many times — of assistant coach Tim Coyle: Healy should open.

“Tim kept saying she had the technique, the temperament and the obvious skills to get open,” Mott told this masthead.

“We weren’t getting the best of her later in the order, so we gave her a chance and basically the first time she took it and made her place.

“She ended up being one of the best batsmen in the world and she always played on the biggest stage, so I think that belief paid off.”

Among recent shifts in Australia’s batting order, this move deserves to rank alongside Adam Gilchrist’s promotion to ODIs in January 1998 and Travis Head’s recent top-order reshuffle to win the Ashes as one of the most meaningful.

“The first eight years of my career I didn’t feel good. I was looking for where I fit in, I was looking for a place,” Healy said. Willow Talkwhere she announced her retirement on Tuesday morning.

“Until Matthew Mott came in and after the 2017 World Cup he gave me the role to open the batting and support me.

“There were a few similarities with Bazball. He said, ‘it’s not going to happen every time, but when it does, it’s going to put us in a really good place as a side to start from’.”

Australia won the Ashes on home soil against Cup winners England that summer and Healy’s contributions were influential. The first international hundred followed against India in Vadodara in March 2018 and was gone.

Along with her running, Healy gave the game a sharp voice with plenty of opinions, well expressed.

She was also a vocal presence inside, once speaking out to encourage the team to view Lanning’s injury as an opportunity rather than a setback, and hosting podcasts and commentary gigs, Healy made her presence felt as the game grew noticeably in size and reach.

The WBBL, Women’s IPL and the hundred are now staples of the cricket calendar, with players around the world doing what they can to impact games in the same way as Healy.

After Lanning began to suffer mental health problems that led to her tearful retirement at the end of 2023, it fell to Healy to become captain. She oversaw the retention of the Ashes away from home and then emphatic victories on home soil last summer either side of the aforementioned cup campaigns that ended in defeat.

Healy’s ability to turn games hasn’t diminished – innings of 142 and 113 not out during last year’s India Cup made that clear. But a combination of injuries, waning motivation and the temptation of living at home with husband Mitchell Starc sealed the decision.

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Perhaps the best measure of Healy’s contribution is that Australian cricket, which has inspired so many to follow her, has plenty of depth to ensure a smooth transition. With Uncle Ian ahead of Gilchrist, Healy has reason to believe this team’s future is in strong hands.

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