Alyssa Healy will bid adieu to her international career, following the one-off Test against India at WACA. Her 16-year career for Australia included strong performances with the bat and contributions with the gloves behind the stumps.
Healy won six T20 World Cup titles, the most by any player, to go along with an ODI World Cup and a Commonwealth Games gold medal.
A career of two halves
Healy's career took a significant turn after the 2017 ODI World Cup, when the then head coach Matthew Mott promoted her to the opening slot. Until then, Healy scored only 495 runs and two fifties in 41 ODI innings. After the promotion, she scored 3282 runs from 73 innings, with eight hundreds and 17 fifties.
It was the same case in T20Is as well. Healy had middling returns in T20Is till 2017, despite having opened occasionally. She had only two fifties in 58 innings but scored 15 more in 85 innings after that, and also made a career-best 148 not out in 2019, which was the highest individual score in women's T20Is at the time. It remains the highest individual score by a wicketkeeper in the format, just like her 170 in women's ODIs.
Healy is one of the 14 women with 3000-plus runs in T20Is. Her strike rate of 129.79 is the highest among those 14 players and also the second-highest of all players with 2000-plus runs.
Of her 3054 runs, 2756 were as a wicketkeeper-batter, a record.
In ODIs, Healy scored 3420 as a wicketkeeper=batter, the second-most by a woman behind Sarah Taylor's 3813. Healy's seven hundreds as a keeper-batter in ODIs are also the most. Across formats, she has eight hundreds and scored 6631 runs as a wicketkeeper-batter, both records in women's cricket.
Prolific behind the stumps
Healy signs off as the most prolific wicketkeeper in women's internationals with 269 dismissals. As many as 126 of those came in T20Is, with 63 catches and 63 stumpings, both being records. No other wicketkeeper has even 100 dismissals in women's T20Is. Her 119 dismissals in ODIs are the fourth highest, and another 24 in Tests rank joint fifth.
Healy has 103 stumpings across formats to her name, one behind Sarah Taylor's 104, while her 166 catches as a keeper are also the second most, behind Trisha Chetty's 175.
The one-off Test against India will be her 299th international appearance. She has played 273 of them as a designated keeper, the most by a woman. Healy has captained Australia in 61 matches and was designated keeper in 55 of them. She scored 1728 runs in those 55 games with two hundreds. Only Nigar Sultana, with 1808 runs, has scored more as a keeper-captain, while Sultana and Jodie Fields are the only other keeper-captains to score hundreds (one each) in women's internationals.
A perfect finish
Healy scored 98-ball 158, the highest score by a woman in her last ODI. South Africa's Johmari Logtenberg's held the previous record with her 153 not out against Netherlands in 2007.
Healy's blazing hundred also meant she finished her ODI career with a strike rate of 100.69. Her 3777 ODI runs are comfortably the most among the batters who have a strike rate of over 100 in the format.
Stepping up in big events
Healy consistently stepped up in the ICC tournaments since her promotion in the batting order. She was the Player of the Tournament at the 2018 T20 World Cup and the Player of the Match in four of the five innings she batted in. No other woman has four match awards in a T20 World Cup. She was the Player of the Final in 2020 for her 75 off just 39 balls. In all, she had 11 Player-of-the-Match awards across ODI and T20 World Cups. Only England's Charlotte Edwards (15) had more.
At the 2022 ODI World Cup, Healy scored hundreds in the semi-final and the final, becoming the first player ever to do so. Her 170 against England remains the highest score in a World Cup final. Her four hundreds in ODI World Cups are only behind Nat Sciver-Brunt's five. All other wicketkeepers combined scored one hundred in the women's World Cups.
After 2019, Healy took her batting in the World Cups to another level. Four of her five ODI hundreds in this period came at the World Cups, in just 14 innings, while averaging 62.15. Outside the World Cups, she scored one hundred and seven fifties in 38 innings, while averaging 35.00.
It was the same story in the T20 World Cups too. After 2019, she made five fifties in 14 innings at the World Cups, but only three in 43 otherwise. She averages only 19.81 in those games, compared to 41.00 at the T20 World Cups.
An ever-present name
Healy featured in all 107 T20Is Australia played between January 2013 and December 2022. She became the first player, male or female, to play 100 or more consecutive T20Is for their team.
Healy was a regular feature in other formats as well, playing Australia's all 64 ODIs between February 2016 and April 2022. Overall, across three formats, she played 145 consecutive matches for Australia between February 2016 and December 2022. Only South Africa's Mignon du Preez (167) and India's Mithali Raj (146) have played more consecutive international matches in women's cricket.