Alyssa Healy

Alyssa Jean Healy (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian former cricketer who played for and captained the Australian women's national team. She also played for New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL. She made her international debut in February 2010 and retired in March 2026.

A right-handed batter and wicket-keeper, Healy first came to prominence in late 2006 when she became the first girl to play among boys in the private schools' competition in New South Wales. She moved up the state age group ranks and made her debut for the senior New South Wales team in the 2007–08 season. She played most of her first two seasons as a specialist batter until the 2009–10 season, where she took up the glovework on a full-time basis for her state. During the same season, she recorded her highest score of 89 not out at faster than a run a ball, and made the most dismissals of any wicket-keeper in the Women's National Cricket League.

Making her international debut in the 2010 Rose Bowl series against New Zealand, Healy played 162 WT20I matches, the second most for any Australian woman, alongside playing 126 WODI matches. She currently holds the record for the most T20I dismissals as a wicket-keeper, male or female, having been involved in 126 dismissals over her career.

Healy was a member of Australia's squad for the 2018 Women's World Twenty20 and won player of the tournament alongside being the leading runs scorer, with 225 runs. She was named the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year in 2018 and 2019 alongside winning the Belinda Clark Award in 2019. Against Sri Lanka in 2019–20, she set an at-the-time record for the highest individual score in a Women's T20I match—148 not out. She was a member of the team during their seven-year WODI series win-streak and six year WT20I series win-streak, including their gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

Following the retirement of Meg Lanning from international competition in November 2023, Healy became the captain of the Australian women's team in all three formats. She captained Australia in ODI and Test when they achieved a 16–0 whitewash against England at the 2024–25 Women's Ashes. She announced her retirement from professional cricket in 2026.

Early and personal life Born on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Healy is the daughter of Greg, who was a member of the Queensland squad, while Greg's younger brother Ian was Australia's Test wicket-keeper from the late 1980s until 1999 and was the world record holder for the most Test dismissals. Another uncle, Ken, played for Queensland. Despite the family heritage, and watching her uncle represent Australia, she said that she did not become interested in cricket until she moved from Queensland to Sydney as a child and was coaxed into taking up the sport by a friend. She attended high school at MLC School and later Barker College.

In 2015, Healy became engaged to fast bowler Mitchell Starc. They were married in April 2016. They met each other when they were both aged nine as Starc began as a wicketkeeper. Healy and Starc are only the third married couple to play Test cricket, after the English couple the Prideauxs (Roger and Ruth), in the 1950s to 1970, and the Sri Lankan de Alwis couple (Guy and Rasanjali), in the 1980s and 1990s. In March 2020, Starc flew home ahead of the final ODI match against South Africa, so he could watch Healy play in the final of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. Healy's brother-in-law is high jumper Brandon Starc.

Healy's nickname is "Midge", given to her by her father when she was a child.

Healy has a golf handicap of seven (as of 1 Oct 2019) and competes against Starc (handicap of ten) Healy and her husband support the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League. They were named joint number-one ticket holders in 2025.

Youth career Her selection at the age of 16 in late 2006 as wicket-keeper for Barker College First XI, the first time a girl had been picked to play among boys in the elite private schools' cricket competition in New South Wales, drew press commentary from various sources. This came about after an anonymous person, believed to be a former male student, circulated an email entitled "Save Barker Cricket Now" in the school community attacking the selection as a "disgrace" and calling for gender segregation of the cricket team. In 2010, she reflected "I'd do it all again...I really enjoyed playing school cricket with the boys and it definitely helped lift my skills and tighten my technique." Both she and Australian teammate Ellyse Perry have publicly advocated girls playing against boys. The following month, she was selected in the Australia Youth team, composed of under-23 cricketers, to play against New Zealand A, the only player selected before making their senior domestic debut. She played as a wicket-keeper batting in the middle-order in the first match, and opened in the last two matches, playing purely as a batter. The series ended 1–1 after the second match was tied.

New South Wales reached the final and were awarded the title because they placed first in the qualifying matches after rain washed out the deciding game. Healy ended the season with 78 runs at 11.14. Playing as a specialist batter, she also took three catches.

She then played six matches for the Second XI in the space of a week, mostly as a top-order batter, sometimes opening and as a wicket-keeper. New South Wales won all the fixtures except for one that was abandoned due to inclement weather. In the final against the same team the following week, Healy made 11 from 22 balls before being run out, but New South Wales nevertheless won by six wickets with more than 15 overs to spare to claim the title. Healy ended the one-day competition with 79 runs at 26.33.

Healy also played in two Twenty20 matches for her state during the season, scoring 35 from 27 balls against South Australia and 16 from 21 balls against Victoria. She was New South Wales' second top-scorer in both matches; the first was won but the second lost. Her season was interrupted by her selection in the Australian Under-21 team to play against the New Zealand Emerging Players. In five matches, she scored 50 runs at 10.00, took five catches and made one stumping as Australia won the series 4–1. Healy ended her first full season as a wicket-keeper with 208 runs at 29.71, the second-highest average in her team behind Blackwell. In 11 matches, she also took 11 catches and completed 9 stumpings, effecting more dismissals than any other player.

She made 52 runs at 13.00 in seven T20 matches.

Women's Big Bash League

In November 2018, she was named in the Sydney Sixers' squad for the 2018–19 Women's Big Bash League season. In April 2019, Cricket Australia awarded her with a contract ahead of the 2019–20 season.

International career International debut (2010) alt=Young woman with a short blonde ponytail wearing a dark blue T-shirt, baseball cap and trackpants with gold stripes. Advertising logos of Adidas and Commonwealth Bank are present on the clothes. She is wearing a green helmet with a grill and pads on her legs, gloves and is holding a bat in her right hand.

Healy was selected in the Australian squad for the Rose Bowl series against New Zealand in February 2010 due to an injury to the incumbent wicketkeeper and captain Jodie Fields. The selection committee released a statement saying "Alyssa has been identified for higher honours for a number of years and now gets the chance to display her wicket-keeping skills and attacking batting on the international stage". Healy made her ODI debut at the Adelaide Oval and played in all five ODIs in the Australian leg of the series. In her first match, she scored 21 from 11 balls in the death overs, hitting four fours as Australia made 241 before bowling out the visitors for 126 to seal a 115-run win. She took one catch, removing Amy Satterthwaite from the bowling of Rene Farrell. Healy made consecutive ducks in the next two matches, and made four in the final match at Junction Oval. She had only brief opportunities with the bat in the closing stages of the innings. She ended the series with 25 runs at 6.25 and a strike rate of 100.00, five catches and a stumping.

She then played in the three T20s held at Bellerive Oval in Hobart. The first of these matches was a curtain-raiser to the match between the Australia and West Indies men teams, and was the first match to be shown live on free-to-air television in Australia. New Zealand batted first and Australian fast bowler Ellyse Perry extracted an outside edge from captain Aimee Watkins from the first ball of the match. The ball flew straight to Healy's mid-riff and she dropped it.

Healy had little impact with the bat in the three T20s in Australia and two more at the start of the New Zealand leg of the series, scoring 17 runs at 5.66 and a strike rate of 77.27. Apart from one catch on her debut, she did not make any more dismissals. Australia lost all five matches. In the first warm-up match, she took two catches and did not bat as Australia lost to New Zealand by 18 runs.

During the middle of the run-chase, Priest was incorrectly given out stumped by Healy after the television umpire Asad Rauf had pressed the wrong button, and he had to retract his decision. Soon after New Zealand were at 5/36 after 11 overs, leaving them with 71 runs to score from the last 54 balls, and Australia were in the ascendancy. However, New Zealand's chances were revived by Nicola Browne and Sophie Devine, who put on 41 from as many balls. In the 18th over, Healy caught Browne from Perry's bowling, and Australia went on to win by three runs after New Zealand ended on 6/103.

Healy was named as the wicketkeeper across all forms of the 2017 Women's Ashes series in Australia. She was the leading run-scorer in the ODI leg of the series. The entire series ended 8–8 in points, and as the holders, Australia retained the Ashes.

In April 2018, she was one of the fourteen players to be awarded a national contract for the 2018–19 season by Cricket Australia.

In October 2018, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies. Ahead of the tournament, she was named as one of the players to watch. She was the leading run-scorer in the competition, with 225 runs, and was named the player of the tournament.

In June 2019, Cricket Australia named her in Australia's team for their tour to England to contest the Women's Ashes. That same year, she played her 100th WT20I match during Australia's series against Sri Lanka.

She was awarded the Belinda Clarke Medal at the Allan Border Medal ceremony by the CA in 2019. In January 2020, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia. In Australia's match against Bangladesh, Healy and Beth Mooney made an opening partnership of 151 runs, the highest partnership for Australia Women for any wicket in a WT20I match. In the final, Healy blasted 75 off 39 balls in a player of the match performance, which saw Australia win their 5th title.

In November 2020, Healy was nominated for the ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Decade award. On 7 April 2021, in the second WODI against New Zealand, Healy played in her 200th international match.

In January 2022, Healy was named in Australia's squad for their series against England to contest the Women's Ashes. Later the same month, she was named in Australia's team for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup in New Zealand. In April 2022, she was bought by the Northern Superchargers for the 2022 season of The Hundred in England. The following month, Healy was named in Australia's team for the cricket tournament at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

Australian captaincy (2023–2026) In December 2023, after the retirement of Meg Lanning from international cricket, Healy was appointed as captain of the Australia women's national cricket team in test, one day international and Twenty20 International cricket.

She was named captain of the Australia squad for the 2024 ICC Women's T20 World Cup and the 2024–25 Women's Ashes series. During the latter series, injury prevented her from playing the T20I matches, as well as preventing her from wicket-keeping the Test match. She, alongside Tahlia McGrath, captained Australia to a 16–0 points whitewash, winning all of the matches played.

In January 2026 Healy announced her impending retirement from all formats of cricket, with her final appearances for Australia happening against the Indian Women's team in February and March 2026. During her last ODI match, she scored 158 off 98 balls, winning player of the match. In the same ODI match, she bowled her first overs in International Cricket, bowling two overs, with 12 runs conceded at an economy of 6.00. In her final match, she captained a 10 wicket Test win over the Indian team.

Records and achievements Between 21 February and 2 August 2019, Healy held the Guinness World Record for the highest catch of a cricket ball at 82.5m. This was set as part of a campaign to mark one year until the start of the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. However, the record has since been surpassed by Kristan Baumgartner, with 114m. She broke the world record for the most runs in a Women's T20 International with 148* (61) at North Sydney Oval on 2 October 2019 against Sri Lanka (later surpassed). On 8 March 2020, Healy recorded the fastest 50 (off 30 balls) in the history of ICC event finals across formats before it was broken by Heinrich Klaasen in 2024.

International centuries

Honours Team International ICC Women's World Twenty20/T20 World Cup: 2010, 2012, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023 ICC Women's Cricket World Cup: 2013, 2022

Domestic/franchise Women's Big Bash League: WBBL02, WBBL03 Women's National Cricket League: 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

Individual ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year: 2018, 2019 Belinda Clark Award: 2019 Cricket Australia Women's ODI Player of the Year: 2019 ICC Women's Player of the Month: April 2021 WBBL Team of the Tournament: WBBL04