After a series of frustrating injuries and fleeting appearances, Alyssa Healy is back in the magenta — determined, defiant, and ready to drive Sydney Sixers as they chase early-season momentum against Hobart Hurricanes on November 13th.
The Sixers could hardly have asked for a better start to their Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) 11 campaign. In their season opener at the WACA Ground, they dismantled Perth Scorchers with a show of complete dominance.
Ashleigh Gardner’s five-wicket masterclass restricted the Scorchers to 109 before Ellyse Perry and Sophia Dunkley cruised to a 10-wicket victory inside 12.5 overs. That performance set the tone for a side eager to reclaim its ruthless identity — and now, with Healy’s return, the top order looks even more intimidating.
The 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batter missed that opener after injuring her right thumb during Australia’s ODI World Cup semi-final loss to India on October 30. She had copped a painful blow while attempting to pouch a sharp chance from Jemimah Rodrigues off Kim Garth’s bowling in Navi Mumbai.
After successfully completing a full training session on November 12, Healy has been cleared to play and included in the 13-player squad, with Lauren Kua also coming in while Courtney Sippel and Elsa Hunter make way.
For Healy, this comeback carries layers of meaning. She has featured in only five games across the last two WBBL seasons, each derailed by injuries that struck at cruel moments.
In WBBL 10, she started the campaign in a moonboot after injuring her foot during the 2024 T20 World Cup in the UAE — an injury that forced her out of Australia’s semi-final against South Africa and the Sixers’ opening two matches. Just as she began to regain rhythm, a knee injury ended her season after four games.
Her 2023 campaign was even shorter. In a bizarre and unlucky incident, Healy badly damaged her right index finger while trying to break up a scuffle between her two Staffordshire bull terriers, ruling her out after the Sixers’ first match.
But true to her fighting spirit, Healy refused to fade away. Earlier this year, she staged an impressive return against India A, finding both form and freedom in her batting. That resurgence carried into the Women’s World Cup, where she led from the front with scores of 19, 20, 142, 113* and 5.
Her campaign was briefly interrupted by another setback — a training injury on October 19 — which sidelined her for two league matches. Yet, she returned to guide Australia with the trademark fearlessness that defines her.
Now, as the Sixers prepare for their next challenge, Healy’s presence feels like both a reunion and a revival. After enduring an exhausting cycle of injuries, rehabilitation, and interrupted seasons, she steps back into the side at a time when the Sixers look refreshed, aggressive, and ambitious under a new chapter.
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