'ODI legend' status sealed, only Test remains for peerless Healy

On the eve of the first ODI against India late last month, Alyssa Healy observed that very few athletes get to retire on their own terms.

Even fewer among that number could claim a fairytale finish.

Healy took matters into her own hands at Bellerive Oval on Sunday, scripting her own perfect farewell to one-day international cricket with her highest ODI knock on home soil.

An emphatic 185-run win and 3-0 sweep of the 50-over leg of the multi-format series was the icing on the cake, and only one thing could have made the Australia captain's one-day farewell even more complete: a wicket.

Not that she didn't give the last bit a crack; with India seven-down and the game dragging as India's lower order dug in, Healy sent down her first over in international cricket, then backed it up with a second.

Alas, her ODI bowling career would end with figures of 0-12.

"The first one got stuck in my hand, I will say that," a laughing Healy told cricket.com.au following Sunday's game.

"But I actually thought I bowled decent, the low full toss seemed to work all day, so I thought I'd give it a go … I've never had a bowl in international cricket, so why not tonight?"

Thwarted allrounder status aside, it was Healy's day at Bellerive Oval.

While she will still pull on the Baggy Green and don the whites one final time in Perth this week, she signed off from one-day cricket in a manner that perfectly befitted the career of one of Australia's greatest players.

"I just think what a ridiculous sport we play that it can kick you down so many times and then give you opportunities like it has today," Healy said following the match.

"I've hated every milestone match so today was just an opportunity to go out and enjoy it and it was one of the more enjoyable experiences I've had.

"So thanks to the cricket gods for that and that's a nice way to sign off in the yellow."

As she has so often done throughout her 16 years at the highest level, 'Midge' rose to meet a big occasion, plundering India's attack bring up her eighth century in the format from 79 deliveries.

She then stepped on the accelerator, adding a further 49 runs from her next 16 balls to pass 150.

It was Healy at her belligerent best, punishing anything loose from the Indian attack – which, thanks her a combination of her own pressure and the tourists' choice to field just five specialist bowlers, there was no shortage of.

Pushing through cramp, Healy's innings finally ended in bizarre circumstances on 158, bowled attempting to reverse a rank full toss from Sneh Rana.

"I (started to) cramp at about 85 I reckon, and I was batting with Moons (Beth Mooney) at the time, and both my calves were going and I said, 'Oh, I'm done. I'm just going to have to swing'," Healy revealed.

"And Moons said, 'Knuckle down and get your hundred and then see what unfolds after that'.

"I was bit of a tin man running to the other end for 10 or 12 runs, but then there was a little bit of party time, once you knock off a milestone, it's an opportunity to put the foot down and I just enjoyed it from there.

"I'll remember that one ... that's the last one, right? So I'll probably remember that for a long time.

"It's definitely better than walking out there and getting a duck. It's pretty special ... and I think to see the team just keep going and thrive in this one day series has been probably the best part.

"So I'll enjoy that innings, but I'll enjoy the win even more."

It was Healy's second highest ODI score after her 170 in the 2022 World Cup final against England in Christchurch, and her highest on home soil.

Among Australian women, only Belinda Clark has produced a higher individual score in the format, the 229no she scored against Denmark in 1997.

"In hindsight it was probably a more of an emotional day than what I thought (it'd be)," Healy said.

"But to play the way that we did was very special and then on a personal note, to do something like that just makes me laugh.

"But I love this format, and I've loved this format since I started my international career, so to finish it like that is pretty cool.

"I was actually was contemplating asking Phoebe (Litchfield) to take the first ball for the first time ever, because I wasn't quite sure what was going to happen.

"But I'm glad I marked center and just got myself set ... I think the way that Pheebs and then Georgia Voll just really attacked the game took the pressure off me. I feel like that's something I've been doing for the last 15 years, and then to watch it unfolding at the other end, made it easy for me."

Healy walks away from the format with eight ODI tons, equal with Karen Rolton. Only Meg Lanning (15) has scored more for Australia.

Overall, her 3,777 ODI runs places her fifth among Australian women and of those, she is the only one to end with a career strike rate above 100, with Sunday's knock pushing her over a run a ball to 100.69.

Of those eight one-day tons, her World Cup final knock in New Zealand stands without peer.

While Healy's innings at Bellerive was witnessed first-hand by considerably fewer fans than it deserved, it will go down as her finest 50-over knock on home soil, and perhaps second only to her 75 off 39 in the 2020 T20 World Cup final at the MCG among her greatest innings in Australia.

Fittingly, Sunday's innings came against India, the same opponent Healy tormented at the MCG in 2020, and who she scored a breakthrough first international hundred against in Baroda in 2018.

It was that innings, coming just months after Healy was installed as Australia's full-time opener and given a long rope to prove herself in the role, that sparked a years-long purple patch for the wicket-keeper batter.

Before that game, Healy had scored 1686 runs at 18.94 in 135 international games, with six half-centuries.

Once the dam broke on Baroda, the next eight years of her career saw her score 5634 runs at 37.81 in 163 games, including nine centuries, 33 fifties and ultimately, propel herself into Australia's top four leading run scorers across all women's formats.

In ODIs, her strongest format, the numbers post-Baroda are even more impressive: 3080 runs at 46.66.

In a mark of respect befitting the Healy v India rivalry, Harmanpreet Kaur had her team form a guard of honour as the Australian opener walked out to bat at Bellerive on Sunday.

"There's a great amount of respect, I think, between both teams," Healy said.

"We play hard, we play fierce on the field, and there is a great rivalry, but I think there's a genuine respect between both of the teams and I think that was on show today, not just with me with the way that the game was played, so that was really special and I'm thankful to them."

Healy still has a Test match left to play, with the pink-ball game at the WACA Ground to begin on Friday.

There, she will no doubt have her sights set on another three-figure knock – as it stands, she has a Test best score of 99, a record she shares with her husband Mitchell Starc.

"I'm really looking forward to that," Healy said of the Test.

"I think any opportunity to wear the Baggy Green, and personally to put on the blazer and toss the coin is really special in our game, and to do it at the WACA as well, a pretty iconic ground in Australia, is going to be really enjoyable."

More gratifying to Healy than her innings on Sunday was the way Australia responded across the three one-dayers after a rare series loss in the T20I leg.

With the Test match still to come, Australia hold an 8-4 lead and as the current holders of the multi-format series trophy, Australia's 50-over sweep has ensured that, regardless of the result at the WACA this week, Healy will finish her career lifting a trophy.

"I'm super proud of the group," she said.

"I sensed that coming back in, they were a bit flat. There was a bit of disappointment around after the T20 leg and for our ability to just knuckle down and get things right moving into this series, I think was really impressive, and it's now put us in a great position in this series.

"We've retained the trophy with the Test match to play.

"We're going (to Perth) to win the Test, and we've put ourselves in a position where we can do that. I'm just proud of the group for bouncing back and just knuckling down."

NRMA Insurance Australia v India Multi-Format Series

Australia lead the multi-format series 8-4

First T20I: India won by 21 runs (DLS)

Second T20I: Australia won by 19 runs

Third T20I: India won by 17 runs

Australia ODI squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Sophie Molineux (vc), Darcie Brown, Nicola Carey, Ashleigh Gardner, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Megan Schutt, Annabel Sutherland, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

 

India ODI squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Renuka Thakur, Sree Charani, Vaishnavi Sharma, Kranti Gaud, Sneh Rana, Deepti Sharma, Richa Ghosh, Kashvee Gautam, Amanjot Kaur, Jemimah Rodrigues, Uma Chetry, Harleen Deol, Pratika Rawal

February 24: Australia won by six wickets

February 27: Australia won by five wickets

March 1: Australia won by 185 runs

Australia Test squad: Alyssa Healy (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Ashleigh Gardner, Lucy Hamilton, Alana King, Phoebe Litchfield, Beth Mooney, Tahlia McGrath, Ellyse Perry, Annabel Sutherland, Rachel Trenaman, Georgia Voll, Georgia Wareham

 

India Test squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Richa Ghosh, Deepti Sharma, Renuka Singh, Sneh Rana, Amanjot Kaur, Uma Chetry, Pratika Rawal, Harleen Deol, Kranti Gaud, Vaishnavi Sharma, Sayali Satghare

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