'Zero fear': The magic & mastery of Alyssa Healy

Alyssa Healy still has a physical reaction when she casts her mind back to the 2022 ODI World Cup final in Christchurch.

"I'll never forget it," she smiles. "Every time I talk about it, my forearms cramp just like they were in that game.

"I was exhausted by the end of the night. The first beer went down like razor blades, which is unusual for me."

Healy's arms were cramping because she had spent more than 40 overs pasting England's bowlers all over Hagley Oval. After reaching 100 from as many balls, she went berserk, hitting 13 fours and 70 runs from her next 38 balls faced.

"It's probably the best I've seen," says Beth Mooney, who batted alongside her through a third of that innings. "Just someone in complete control of their game, which in sport, is quite rare, but I think in cricket as a batter is even rarer; it's a bit of a fickle skill to master, and I think she got pretty close that day."

Healy's 170 from 138 balls might be the greatest innings in WODI history. It was also the apogee of an international career that comes to a close almost 16 years after it began, when a cheeky teenager came into the Australian side eager – though not truly ready – to make her mark.

* * *

Scroll through the team sheet for Alyssa Healy's international debut and the passage of time hits hard.

It was February 2010 and among the Australian XI were current head coach Shelley Nitschke, recently-inducted NSW Cricket Hall of Famer Alex Blackwell, and longtime commentator Lisa Sthalekar.

Healy, 19 at the time and in the side courtesy of an injury to regular 'keeper Jodie Fields (nee Purves), batted at seven, one place above fellow youngster Ellyse Perry in the batting order. The two Sydneysiders had known each other since they were primary schoolers, and it was upon their shoulders that the next golden generation of Australian women's cricket was expected to be carried.

Healy had always been an out-of-the-box talent. She turned heads – and turned up a few sadly-out-of-touch noses – when as a 16-year-old she became the first girl to play in Sydney's Combined Associated Schools competition.

As a 17-year-old state debutant, her potential was evidently noted when she walked straight into the No.3 position for an all-conquering NSW Breakers side. Yet a string of low scores meant she first made her mark from No.7 a month later, scoring 41no to secure a two-wicket win over Queensland after her side had slumped to 5-99 chasing 171.

"People say I have a bit of talent, but I also try to work very hard at it," she said at the time. "I would like to play for Australia one day and if things go well, maybe it will happen."

Healy was a two-time national champion by the time she earned that first Australia cap. By the end of 2010, she and Perry were joined by Meg Lanning, and in truth, as one great side slowly evolved into another through the first half of that decade, the wicketkeeper-batter was not on the same level as her two outstanding peers.

"I felt comfortable as a member of the Australian team, but I didn't feel comfortable (with her position in the side) probably for the first eight years of my career," she said on the Willow Talk podcast today. "I was looking for where I fit in, looking for a spot.

"I remember they gave me a crack opening the batting early in my career, and I couldn't hit them off the square. Meg made a hundred off about 60 balls in that same game, and I was just like, 'I'm not cut out for this'."

In those early years, Healy's latent ability surfaced only in glimpses, most notably via a dashing 90 from 61 balls she made against India in her second time opening the batting for the T20I side (that innings was as close as she would come to a maiden hundred for six years). It was a role that selectors had flirted with for the destructive right-hander but never truly committed to; of her 96 white-ball international innings prior to the 2017 ODI World Cup, Healy opened 32 times, averaging 18.28. 

Yet selectors were patient, and in plotting their personnel for the Lanning Era, they had backed the young 'keeper for the long term over former captain Purves. Through the first two seasons of the Women's Big Bash League in 2015-16 and 2016-17, they had also witnessed Healy establish herself as a dominant force at the top of the order. For Sydney Sixers, she opened in each of the 28 matches she played, scoring 764 runs at a strike-rate of 122.24 – the highest of any of the 18 players to post 500 runs.

So when Australia bowed out of the 2017 ODI World Cup in the semi-final and the likes of Lanning, selection chair Shawn Flegler and head coach Matthew Mott felt the full potential of a strong team wasn't being realised, the idea of installing Healy as full-time opener was one of the first items on their agenda.

"She was doing a good job down the order for us … but you always felt she needed and wanted more," Mott told cricket.com.au in 2021. "We bit the bullet and said, 'Right, let's give her a go opening for a long time', and gave her a bit of comfort around the way she could play and express herself.

"That's where the big shift was – when she felt valued in that role."

* * *

Healy's high points through the next five years stack up well against the Himalayas. The permanent shift to open in both formats seemed to coincide with the right-hander moving into the peak period of her batting powers, though perhaps the former simply caused the latter. Certainly it caused her to think more about her batting. She committed herself to developing and then nailing her sweep shot, and more broadly, becoming a 360-degree player who could capitalise on fielding restrictions.

From post-ODI World Cup 2017 until the end of the 2023 T20I World Cup, Healy averaged 52.29 in 42 ODIs, while striking at 102.29, with five hundreds and 13 fifties. In 65 T20Is, she averaged 29.96 with a strike-rate of 136.20, with a century and 12 fifties.

And while through that window she grew as a world-class wicketkeeper (her 269 dismissals are the most in women's internationals) there is zero doubt her elevation to the top of the order was a game-changing piece in the puzzle, as Australia went on a world record ODI winning streak of 26 matches and claimed four world titles and Commonwealth Games gold.

"That was the first time I felt like I was … really clear in what I wanted to achieve, and (clear in) a role that I'd been given," she said on the podcast. "I took real responsibility of that, and that kind of gave me that edge to go out there and execute it.

"(Mott) gave me the role of opening the batting and (was backing me). It was like, 'It's not going to come off all the time, but when it does, you're going to get us in a really good spot as a side, that we can launch from.

"That was a real moment of clarity for me, and a real turning point … to get that opportunity and then go and execute and have some real success was really cool."

Healy scored her maiden international hundred in March 2018 (133 v India at Vadodara) and between 2019 and 2022, she topped out at number one in the ICC's ODI batting rankings, and four in T20Is. In blasting 148no from 61 balls against Sri Lanka at North Sydney, she took from Lanning the world record for the highest score in women's T20Is.

Her technique, particularly when driving from cover through to mid-on – aerially or straight – made her a sight to behold when in full cry, as she routinely was through those golden years.

And more than once, Healy's best also unfolded on the biggest stages. After being named player of the series in Australia's successful 2018 T20I World Cup campaign, Healy lit up the MCG in the final of the 2020 edition, thrilling the record crowd of 86,174 with a spectacular 75 off 39 balls, which included seven fours and five sixes.

"I've been a part of a lot of successful World Cup campaigns now but to do it here on home soil was always going to be incredibly difficult," she said afterward. "I don't think that anything's ever going to top that."

In terms of individual performances at least, Healy was wrong. With Lanning's Australians having set their sights on the 2022 ODI World Cup for almost five years, Healy again stepped up when it mattered most.

Heading into the semi-final, the then 32-year-old had scored 210 runs at 30 through the tournament, hitting a pair of important 72s en route to the knockouts without having dominated the tournament.

"I was actually really disappointed with how my World Cup had gone, because I never felt out of form," she told cricket.com.au. "I just felt like I was finding ways to get out, and I really wanted to contribute heavier.

"There were a few demons in that World Cup … (I tried) changing my bat stickers, little things like that, just trying to find a way to contribute, because that's all I wanted to do."

In the semi-final against West Indies, Australia were sent in and Healy crashed 129 from 107 balls. By the time she was out in the 33rd over, they had one foot in the final.

Then came her magnum opus of 170 – the highest score made in a World Cup final. The innings Mooney said bordered on perfection. Perry used it as the prime example of the type of performance that will see Healy ranked among the all-time greats.

"'Midge' (Healy) is probably the most mercurial player I've ever seen," she says. "She has had days, and particularly in really important matches, of just obscene performances, and it's almost like whatever she decides to do happens.

"(There is) absolutely zero fear in anything that she does, and a huge amount of confidence and flair doing it.

"I don't think anyone else is quite like that – I've never seen another player in the women's game be able to turn it on like that. So that really makes her stand out as one of the best ever."

One lesser-told tale from that monumental performance. With her muscles fatiguing and the cramps setting in at the back-end of her innings, Healy sent an unusual request back to the changeroom.

"I sat on the bench of that game, and I just remember thinking: There is no chance that you would pay me to bowl to her right now," laughs Grace Harris. "She's hitting it everywhere, and then at one stage, she was battling cramps, so we ran out a full fat Coke.

"I was like, 'This is outrageous … here we were, a World Cup final and we're running out Coke for 'Midgey' to keep playing on."

Told of Harris's recollection, Healy is only too happy to confirm.

"When you pass the hundred and you're in party mode, you can ask for whatever you want," she grins. "I could've asked for a cigarette and they might've run it out."

The innings was the highlight of a triumph that marked the perfect end point for that Australian group. As they sat around the Hagley Oval pitch until the sprinklers came on that night, Healy remembers that discussion taking place.

"I sat there in that group with Rach (Haynes) and Meg and 'Moons' and 'Motty' … and we literally said, 'What's next?'" she recalled. "You felt it around that group of senior players … and then you turn around and those three big figures have left the group." 

* * *

In those early months, as Lanning vacillated between coming and going from the international scene, Healy seemed, if not a reluctant leader, an uncertain one.

"I've never really seen myself as a captain," she said in late 2021. "I've seen myself as a leader, but I'm happy to lead from within the group … (captaincy) has never been my style and I can't just flip that around now, but I've really enjoyed captaining the Breakers over the last few years and feeling like I can have a real impact on some of these young cricketers, and help them develop into great Australian cricketers."

It was a mixed response ahead of what Healy later said was an overwhelming time. When Lanning called it quits for good, she was left to take charge of an Ashes tour against a strong England intent on revenge after the 2022 World Cup final defeat.

Despite misfiring in the limited-overs legs, the new captain did manage another performance that will take its place in the annals of women's cricket in this country.

After making a duck in the first innings of the Test at Trent Bridge (and a pair in her previous one), Healy came to the wicket second time around at 6-196 and sporting a broken finger on both hands.

Across the next 75 minutes, she added 50 of Australia's final 61 runs to take their lead to 267. In the end, with the visitors securing victory by 89 runs, Healy's late cameo proved decisive.

In December of the following summer, she was appointed full-time skipper.

"It's an exciting time to be involved with this team," she said at the time. "We're seeing the emergence of incredible young talent and are challenging ourselves to continually evolve as a group."

The Lanning vacuum was a large one to fill. A five-time World Cup winning skipper who was victorious in her final 35 matches in charge, she was also the world's best batter for large chunks of her remarkable career.

Healy knew she would need to summon new reserves of energy if she and Nitschke were to successfully oversee the team's transition into yet another new era. Yet six months into the job, she found that's exactly what the new challenge was doing for her.

"For some reason, whatever it might be, there seem to be moments throughout my career (that) give me an extra little jolt of energy," she told cricket.com.au in June 2024. "And (captaincy) is just another one of those.

"(It has) reinvigorated me to learn a bit more about myself, but also about the team itself, and my teammates who are fresh into the team, and then to find a way to go out there and keep raising the bar – and keep winning.

"I've had a few chats with a few different people, but it seems to be like everybody's different," she says. "You can talk to Belinda Clark, you can talk to Rachael Haynes, you can run things past Meg, you can chat to all these amazing leaders … but it turns out that you're a lot different to every single one of them, and you've got to find your own way."

Under the Mott-Lanning-Haynes axis, Healy had prided herself on being the senior player who made the newcomers feel welcome. She understood how important that was for youngsters, both on a human level, and as cricketers looking to hit the ground running.

"She cares a lot about the people around her," Lanning said in 2021. "Over the last few years especially, she's been able to read the group really well and understand what we need at certain times.

"She's always looking out for people in her own way, especially the younger kids that come in. A lot of that is behind the scenes – she's always making sure they're settling in OK, and fitting in nicely.

"None of it is to get recognition ... she just really cares about us having a good team environment, and wants people to be enjoying themselves."

Through her tenure as skipper, Healy looked to maintain that outlook, and those habits, zeroing in on a theme of connection beyond the cricket field. Yet she also had to manage the maintenance of her own lofty playing standards, as well as the group's.

"I mean, we're expected to win World Cups, which isn't necessarily fair, but at the same time, we're disappointed if we don't," she said a few months out from the 2024 T20I World Cup. "But how do you do it when you've had a fair bit of turnover?

"That's the challenge for us over the next 18 months, to go, 'OK, well, how do we stay at the top knowing that we've had a lot of change – and there's probably going to be more change coming, let's be honest – so how do we maintain our standards, or recreate our standards, and push the bar even further out?'"

Roughly 18 months on and Cricket Australia's trophy cabinet at its Jolimont headquarters is sans the WODI and WT20I trophies it had happily held.

For the second time in her remarkable career, Healy crunched hundreds in successive ODI World Cup matches, but at last year's tournament in India, as she navigated the most recent in a string of injuries, those runs weren't enough.

And while relinquishing her grasp on a couple of World Cups was never part of her fairytale, the 35-year-old how has the chance to gain a measure of payback on India when the two sides square off in Australia through February-March.

All things being equal, her final match will be a four-day affair in Perth, where she will don the Baggy Green one last time.

And then?

"Old in cricket, young in life," she says. "So let's go."

Alyssa Healy career numbers

Tests 10* | Runs 489 | Ave 30.56 | HS 99 | 50s 3 | Ct 22 | St 2

 

ODIs 123* | Runs 3563 | Ave 35.98 | SR 99.72 | HS 170 | 100s 7 | 50s 18 | Ct 85 | St 38

 

T20Is 162 | Runs 3054 | Ave 25.45 | SR 129.79 | HS 148no | 100s 1 | 50s 17 | Ct 65 | St 63

 

WBBL 129 matches | Runs 3125 | Ave 25.82 | SR 133.71 | HS 112no | 100s 5 | 50s 15 | Ct 60 | St 45

Australia v India multi-format series 2025-26

February 15: First T20 v India, SCG, 7:15pm AEDT

February 19: Second T20 v India, Manuka Oval, Canberra, 7:15pm AEDT

February 21: Third T20 v India, Adelaide Oval, 7:15pm AEDT

February 24: First ODI v India, Allan Border Field, Brisbane, 2:50pm AEDT

February 27: Second ODI v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

March 1: Third ODI v India, Bellerive Oval, Hobart, 2:50pm AEDT

March 6-9: Test match v India, WACA Ground, 4:20pm AEDT (D/N)