As Australia women continue to dominate in the world of cricket, some of its players have raised their performances to the highest level. Their determination to perform better in every next match is what sets them apart. One of these players is Alyssa Healy. The right-handed batter who wicket keeps for the Southern Stars is a consistent player for her team and has turned to be a reliable performer over the years.
Healy has always been a safe pair of hands behind the stumps, having done some splendid stumping over the years, but it’s her batting acumen in recent times which has taken her achievements to a new height. No doubt it was her wicketkeeping skills which had earned her a place in the national team in her former years, but she never came close to her current batting form in her decade long international career. It will not be wrong to say that she is having a sublime form in batting in the last few years. She was awarded the prestigious Belinda Clark award this January at the Australia cricket awards while also being named as the ODI and T20 player of the year. She has also won the ICC T20I Player of the year in December 2018.
A well deserved : ICC Women’s T20I Cricketer of the Year 2018: Alyssa Healy (Australia) 🇦🇺🇦🇺 #ICC #ICCAwards #ICC2018 pic.twitter.com/0lLGsplp6T
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) January 22, 2019
Healy recently became the 2nd Australian woman after Ellyse Perry to play 100 T20Is for her country. She achieved this feat in the second match of the home series that they had against Sri Lanka. In the next T20I, she etched her name in the record books by remaining unbeaten on 148, having set a new record for the highest T20I score ever made by a woman cricketer. She smashed 7 sixes and 15 fours to make 148 in just 61 balls. In the process, she bettered the record of 133 runs of compatriot and captain Meg Lanning who was standing at the non-striker’s end.
Healy made the fastest half-century by an Australian having reached to 50 in only 25 balls. She rushed off to her hundred in just 46 balls, scoring the 2nd fastest century in women’s T20Is only behind Deandra Dottin’s 38-ball ton. Alyssa’s 61 ball innings was complete entertainment and an absolute batting masterclass.
Growing up, Healy used to play cricket with boys. In 2006 she was chosen to play among boys in the elite private schools’ cricket competition in New South Wales, becoming the first girl to be selected. Since then, she has come a long way to be one of the prolific T20 players for her country.
Her love affair with T20 cricket perhaps started from the season 2018-19 in which she batted in 11 innings and accumulated 495 runs. She had a solid average of 55 and batted with a strike rate which was above 147. Since then, there was no stopping for Healy.
That’s Alyssa Healy’s ODI scores in 2019! 😍
Stats @_hypocaust pic.twitter.com/mAYjUOmoh2
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) September 12, 2019
The unbeaten 148 that she made in the final T20I match of the series against Sri Lanka is the 4th highest individual score in Twenty20 international cricket across men’s and women’s games. She also became the first wicketkeeper to score a century in women’s T20I. Meanwhile, she also surpassed Brendon McCullum’s 123 to make the highest score in a T20I by a wicketkeeper across men’s and women’s cricket.
Out of the 148 runs that she made, 118 runs came as a result of her boundaries – the most through boundaries by any player in WT20Is. This stat alone is a testament to how Alyssa Healy has risen in the shortest format of the game. Her ability to hit big shots along with the temperament to stay on the crease and dig in, is what makes her so destructive at the international level.
3 ODIs
122
58
613 T20Is
12
58*
38That’s just another tour for Alyssa Healy! #AusvWI #WIvAUS Pic: @AusWomenCricket pic.twitter.com/bvIuGfPxMt
— Female Cricket (@imfemalecricket) September 19, 2019
Loves all things female cricket