Former Australia captain and wicket-keeper batter Alyssa Healy has voiced strong reservations about the potential privatisation of the Big Bash League and its possible impact on the Women’s Big Bash League. Speaking on the Keepin it Cricket podcast, Healy stressed that the WBBL must retain its separate identity and receive a clear, sustainable plan before ownership structures are changed.
The upcoming WBBL 12 will be played from 29 October to 5 December 2026. Since its inaugural edition in 2015, the tournament has established itself as one of the most important women’s domestic competitions in world cricket. However, with the men’s Big Bash League moving towards privatisation, uncertainty has emerged over how the eight WBBL teams will be managed in the future.
Alyssa Healy, who hosts the podcast alongside former Australia wicket-keeper Brad Haddin and broadcaster Adam Peacock, made it clear that the WBBL should not be treated merely as an extension of the men’s competition. “WBBL is the premier competition in the world. Don’t lob it in with the Big Bash. That’s not fair.”
The former Sydney Sixers star argued that the WBBL was separated from the BBL for a specific reason: to create its own platform, identity and commercial value. She questioned the logic of bringing the two competitions back together without first establishing a detailed vision for the women’s game. “They separated it for a reason, and they’ve done that on purpose to try and give it its own platform. So now why are you lobbying to have it all in together and trying to create it into something that you didn’t want in the first place?”
Healy’s comments carry considerable weight. She represented the Sydney Sixers from her WBBL debut against Sydney Thunder in Sydney on 6 December 2015 until her retirement from the competition on 13 January 2026. Across 129 matches and 127 innings for the Sixers, she scored 3,125 runs at a strike rate of 133.71 and an average of 25.82, including 15 half-centuries and five centuries.
Her international career was equally influential. Since making her ODI debut against New Zealand at Adelaide on 10 February 2010, Healy scored 3,777 runs at a strike rate of 100.69 and an average of 37.02 in 126 matches, including eight centuries and 19 fifties. In T20Is, she accumulated 3,054 runs at a strike rate of 129.79 and an average of 25.45 in 162 matches, with one century and 17 half-centuries. She also made 502 Test runs in 11 matches with three half-centuries.
Healy announced her international retirement on 13 January 2026 and officially stepped away on 8 March after Australia’s 10-wicket victory over India in the one-off Test at Perth. Australia won the all-format home series 12-4, following India’s 2-1 T20I series victory, Australia’s 3-0 ODI triumph and the Test win.
During the podcast, Mitchell Starc asked whether the franchises should be sold as 16 separate entities rather than eight combined clubs. Healy suggested that selling men’s and women’s teams together could work only if the ownership model included a firm strategy for both competitions. “If there’s no plan, what’s seemingly at the moment is that you’re selling them as one, but then you’ve got two teams, and they don’t know what they’re doing with the WBBL.”
Her concern is not opposition to investment but the absence of clarity. Healy described the current situation as “terrifying” for players and “very precarious,” warning that commercial restructuring should not weaken the competition that has led women’s franchise cricket globally.
The WBBL enters its 12th season after Hobart Hurricanes won their maiden title in 2025, defeating Perth Scorchers by eight wickets in Hobart. The Hurricanes, led by Elyse Villani, topped the league stage with 15 points from 10 matches before Villani retired from the WBBL after the season.
With Mitchell Starc set to represent Sydney Sixers in the 16th edition of the BBL, the debate over shared ownership and the future of the women’s teams will only intensify. For Healy, the central message remains clear: the WBBL deserves investment, ambition and independence, not to be absorbed into a model that could diminish its standing.
(Quotes sourced from Keepin it Cricket Podcast)
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