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The decision will end a glittering career so far featuring 10 Tests, 123 ODIs and 162 T20Is. She will play in upcoming ODI and Test matches against India \u2014 but not the T20s, due to a selfless call to allow the team maximum time to transition before the looming T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Sports News on Tuesday morning, Healy explained why she made the call to end her stellar stint in the Australian team.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeen doing it for a long period of time, I\u2019ve loved it. I feel like every contest I wanted to be a part of and I wanted to compete. It\u2019s probably drained me a little bit over the years,\u201d Healy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve noticed that having to come back from injury and dive pretty deep the last few seasons, it has taken it out of me quite a lot.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe opportunity to finish at home was something that I really wanted to do and to be completely honest, if I had have fought my way through to the World Cup that\u2019s probably not doing the right thing by my teammates and the country as well to half-arse that opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think now is as good of a time as ever.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for when she made the decision, Healy explained her retirement has been on the horizon since taking over as the Australian captain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been around a little while, I think when I took on the captaincy part of that was a little bit of a timeline on what I wanted to achieve with the group and where I wanted to take them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd lead this next generation into doing their own thing. Normally you look at World Cups and that\u2019s often a time where people step away from the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to answer your question, I think it\u2019s been at the back of my mind for a period of time and I guess from my perspective to finally have said it and get it out there to let everybody know, I just get to enjoy that moment now and hopefully play with a smile on my face another couple of times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa Healy celebrates after scoring a century in last year\u2019s ODI World Cup.Source: AP<\/p>\n
While Healy has enjoyed a huge amount of success on the field, she believed her generation\u2019s impact off it, allowing female athletes to be paid full-time in cricket, was her biggest success.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel so lucky, lucky more than anything else. I use the word grateful but I feel really lucky to play in the generation I have,\u201d Healy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve met some amazing people, played with some amazing people, played against some amazing people but I guess to be a part of a generation of success, that\u2019s not just on the field winning trophies.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what the game looks like off field as well, and to be a part of a group and an organisation that has driven women\u2019s sport in general forward throughout this decade has been a really pleasing part of my career.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re in the moment and in the grind, you probably don\u2019t realise the importance of what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully come the back-end of March I can sit down and reflect on what has been an amazing 15 years, and I\u2019ve been part of a heap of success but that off field side of the game is so much more impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alyssa Healy went from KFC to the Australian captaincy.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
In 2010, Healy was working at KFC when she was picked in Australia\u2019s World Cup squad, highlighting the immense leaps and bounds the women\u2019s game has taken during her 15-year career.<\/p>\n
So, once her playing days come to an end, Healy joked she may have to return to her old restaurant job.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking at KFC taught me quite a lot, might have to go back and get another job after this,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe speak about legacy, and that\u2019s not my legacy but our generation\u2019s legacy that we\u2019ve enabled some amazing young, talented players the opportunity to be full-time athletes and I think that\u2019s really special.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you give them the platform and the opportunity to do that they will showcase some incredible things and I think we are only going to see the rewards of that over the following 10 to 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
The superstar wicketkeeper-batter earlier read out a statement revealing the news she will be hanging up the gloves.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s with mixed emotions that the upcoming India series will be my last for Australia,\u201d Healy said on the Willow Talk podcast.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m still passionate about playing for Australia, but I\u2019ve somewhat lost that competitive edge that\u2019s kept me driven since the start, so the time feels right to call it a day.<\/p>\n \u201cKnowing I won\u2019t be going to the T20 World Cup this year and the limited preparation time the team has, I won\u2019t be part of the T20s against India, but I\u2019m excited to have the opportunity to finish my career and captain the ODI and Test side at home against India \u2013 one of the biggest series on the calendar for us.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll genuinely miss my teammates, singing the team song and walking out to open the batting for Australia. Representing my country has been an incredible honour and I\u2019m grateful for one last series in the green and gold.\u201d<\/p>\n Healy has been a part of Fox Cricket\u2019s coverage since 2018 and provided superb insights throughout the recent Ashes series, being widely lauded for her contributions behind the microphone. <\/p>\n She did so as her husband, Australian men\u2019s fast bowler Mitchell Starc, snared man of the series honours with 31 wickets and 156 invaluable runs, including two half-centuries.<\/p>\n She joked that Starc was partly responsible for her retirement call.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the decision came about, I don\u2019t know if anyone knew on social media, but Mitch got a hole in one the other day and my golf\u2019s really shit and I need to actually improve that,\u201d Healy said.<\/p>\n \u201cSo cricket has to take a bit of a back seat and I need to go and work on my golf otherwise I\u2019m just getting pantsed.\u201d<\/p>\n Australian captain Alyssa Healy will retire after facing India one last time.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n Healy is the most accomplished female wicketkeeper in history, with 269 dismissals thus far (24 in Tests, 119 in ODIs and 126 in T20Is). Her 7,106 international runs for Australia, mostly delivered as a hard-hitting opener, trail only fellow champions Meg Lanning (8,352) and Ellyse Perry (7,607).<\/p>\n Should Healy play all three one-dayers against India, the Test (at the WACA, starting March 6) will be her 299th and final game for Australia. With just six T20Is before the T20 World Cup opener against South Africa in Manchester on June 13, she declined to play the short format against India.<\/p>\n Healy has been part of seven World Cup wins (one ODI, six T20I) and has also won a Commonwealth Games gold medal. She hit an incredible 170 in the 2022 ODI final against England \u2013 the highest individual score in a World Cup final (men\u2019s or women\u2019s) and her personal favourite innings. <\/p>\n Her T20I best of 148 not out is the highest individual score among ICC full member nations. Her 75 in the victorious 2020 T20 World Cup final against India, at the MCG in front of a world record 86,174 fans for a women\u2019s cricket match, is another major highlight.<\/p>\n Healy has been on retirement watch since Australia\u2019s semi-final exit from the 50-over World Cup last year. She has battled injuries constantly throughout her career, including a thumb fracture that saw her miss the start of the latest WBBL with Sydney Sixers, and said her passion for cricket had gradually diminished.<\/p>\n Alyssa Healy celebrates with the Women’s Cricket World Cup trophy in 2022.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n \u201cThe last few years have been probably more mentally draining than anything else,\u201d Healy said on Willow Talk.<\/p>\n \u201cA few injuries, (I had) to dive into the well a couple of times and that well was getting less and less full of water, so it was getting harder to dive back in there.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always felt like I\u2019ve had a competitive edge in that I want to compete, I want to win and I want to challenge myself on the park. I\u2019ve felt as I\u2019ve got a little bit older, I\u2019ve not necessarily lost all of it, but I\u2019ve lost some of that.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the WBBL (last year) was probably a bit of a wake-up call. Not being able to hold the bat with two hands didn\u2019t help either but waking up and going, \u2018just another day of cricket\u2019, really surprised myself because I still thought I loved playing the game.<\/p>\n \u201cI never really wanted to do it like this; I never wanted to announce it. I just wanted to get to the end of the Test match and hang up my boots and celebrate.<\/p>\n \u201cBut with me not going to the T20 World Cup, it\u2019s forced a little bit of change \u2013 there\u2019s not a lot of T20 cricket leading into that for the girls, so it\u2019s probably been placed on me to make a decision in that format and give the opportunity for the girls to prepare for that World Cup in the best possible way, knowing that I\u2019m not going to be there.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s forced an announcement of sorts but at the end of the day, it\u2019s given me a little peace as well because I\u2019ve known that\u2019s (been) at the back of my mind for probably the past six months.\u201d<\/p>\n Alyssa Healy hits a six during the Women’s T20 World Cup final in 2020 at the MCG.Source: AAP<\/p>\n Healy will bow out still at the top of her game. She notched her sixth and seventh ODI centuries at last year\u2019s tournament. Her Test best is 99 \u2014 a mark she shares with her husband.<\/p>\n Her total list of honours in the game is incredible, including the Belinda Clark Award in 2019 as Australia\u2019s best female cricketer.<\/p>\n She is a two-time WBBL champion, boasting five centuries in the tournament and more than 3000 runs. She also boasts 11 WNCL titles with NSW.<\/p>\n Her captaincy record is formidable, with a win rate of almost 80 per cent. She led Australia to a historic Ashes whitewash last summer.<\/p>\n \u201cAlyssa is one of the all-time greats of the game and has made an immeasurable contribution both on and off the field over her 15-year career,\u201d Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said in a statement.<\/p>\n \u201cOn behalf of Australian cricket, I\u2019d like to thank Alyssa and congratulate her on an incredible career that has inspired so many and changed the game for the better.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look forward to celebrating her achievements throughout the series against India.\u201d<\/p>\n Healy\u2019s captaincy successor is not clear cut, but current vice-captain Tahlia McGrath and gun all-rounder Ashleigh Gardner are options, as is Phoebe Litchfield as a longer-term pick.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australian women\u2019s captain Alyssa Healy will retire from all forms of cricket at the end of this summer.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[31021,64,63,689,46733,37658,60121,740,12548,13849,677,216799,31517,216798,85,216797,6284],"class_list":["post-409331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-alyssa-healy","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-captain","tag-australian-men","tag-australian-women","tag-cricket","tag-fox-cricket","tag-indian-premier-league","tag-oceania","tag-premier-league-auction","tag-preparation-time","tag-series-honours","tag-sports","tag-team-maximum-time","tag-team-song"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}