Alyssa Healy Extends International Career, Postpones Retirement

MELBOURNE: Alyssa Healy, the captain of the Australian women’s cricket team, has revised her retirement plans and will continue her international career, meaning she will not retire after this year’s ICC Women’s ODI World Cup.

The 35-year-old has verified that she intends to participate in Australia’s forthcoming home summer, which features a much-awaited multi-format series against India.

Her official return to the field will be confirmed on Tuesday, with her selection for the Australia A team to play India A in Queensland this August.

These matches will be Healy’s first since leading Australia to victory in the Ashes earlier this year. A stress fracture in her foot sidelined her for parts of that series, while a knee injury cut short her WBBL season.

She also sat out last year’s T20 World Cup finals and Australia’s ODI tour of New Zealand, along with the Women’s Premier League in India.

Despite these challenges, Healy stated she has been fit to play since March and is keen to resume her wicketkeeping duties prior to the World Cup in India, scheduled to begin in October.

In an interview with Australian media on Tuesday, Healy acknowledged that her time away from the sport has altered her perspective on retirement.

“It’s probably shifted a little bit. It’s made me realise that I still want to do a little bit more than maybe what I thought. At the same time, sometimes there’s stuff in life that’s a little bit more important than pulling on the green and gold. So it’s just a constant reassess,” she stated.

“But at the moment I definitely want to play a home summer. I want to bring the World Cup home, but also to play against India in February-March.”

Tuesday also marks 100 days until Australia’s first World Cup match against New Zealand. The reigning champions are aiming to become the first team in nearly four decades to win consecutive titles.

Healy’s vision when she took over from Meg Lanning as captain in 2023 was to guide Australia through a generational transition.

“That was one of my goals — putting a timeline on it and saying this is where I could take this group, even not knowing what I was going to do personally,” Healy commented.

“It definitely was a big focus of mine: to get the group to a place to compete at this World Cup and win the trophy.

“It’s not so much about the captaincy, or ticking one more box. It’s just that I want to win a World Cup for Australia, and no one has gone back-to-back, which is a real motivator.”

Although Healy hasn’t kept wicket in a match since January, she is confident that the upcoming Australia A series and subsequent ODIs in India will prepare her for the demands of potentially nine World Cup matches in just over a month.

“The ODI World Cup is one of the heaviest loads that we go through as cricketers. My aim is to play every game of that World Cup. So to make sure I can do that’s important,” she concluded.