Her last competitive game was on January 30 in the Ashes Test against England.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy is making a careful return to cricket ahead of the ODI World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, starting on September 30. After struggling with a foot injury for months, she has adjusted her wicketkeeping technique to reduce the strain on her body and extend her playing career.
Alyssa Healy has been dealing with injury concerns for quite some time now, and those problems continued throughout the summer. She missed the one day series against India last December, followed by the T20 matches during the Ashes. Her last competitive game was on January 30 in the Ashes Test against England, where she played only as a specialist batter due to her foot injury.
Since then, she has been absent from several important tournaments. She did not take part in the Women’s Premier League 2025, held between February and March, and also missed Australia’s white ball tour of New Zealand that came right after the league. At one point, there were serious doubts over whether she could continue as a wicketkeeper, given the physical strain it was putting on her body.
Speaking to reporters in Sydney on Thursday during the unveiling of Cricket Australia’s new four year partnership with Westpac, Alyssa Healy opened up about her approach to managing fitness ahead of a busy season. Instead of giving up wicketkeeping due to ongoing injury concerns, the Australian captain has decided to adapt her technique to reduce the physical toll on her body.
Over the past few months, Healy has been quietly working on specific adjustments, particularly focused on easing the pressure on her joints. One of the key changes is a slightly more upright stance while keeping wickets.
“I haven’t actually kept in a competitive game since January and that’s given me a little bit of time to tinker with a few things and make it a little bit easier on my body,” Healy said.
Healy admitted that the traditional method of keeping followed in Australia may not be ideal for someone at her age, especially when dealing with recurring injuries. The shift in technique is her way of adapting and ensuring she can still contribute both with the gloves and the bat for as long as possible.
“We’ve been taught how to wicketkeep a certain way in this country for an extended period of time, and at the end of the day it’s not overly efficient on our bodies and doing it at 35, it’s not ideal,” she added.
“We’ve just been looking at ways to make it a little bit easier for my aging joints and trying to keep things moving the way they should,” she further added.
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Healy will return to action next week in the Australia A series against India A in Queensland, which will be a key part of her build up to the World Cup. She will be part of both the T20 and one day legs of the series.
In the T20s, to be held in Mackay, she will play only as a batter under the captaincy of Nicole Faltum. However, she will take back the gloves for the three one day matches in Brisbane that follow.
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