Alyssa Healy on her timely return to form, famous cricketing names and why people can find her ‘a bit annoying’

She is usually the loudest voice on the field, but then she always has plenty to say. Why Alyssa Healy’s force of personality as much as her runs is driving Australia towards World Cup success.

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She describes herself as the “least professional person” in a highly professional team, the “least suspicious player” in one of the most suspicious sports, but there’s one thing Australian wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy would never describe herself as: reserved.

On or off field.

That’s why her teammates love her – and the opposition players find her so terribly annoying.

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Alyssa Healy is a vital, and vocal, presence in Australia’s successful women’s cricket team.

“I’m pretty chirpy out there,” she says of her style behind the stumps.

“I figure I’m a pretty good bloke off the field, but probably on the field … I’m a sore loser, I’m happy to admit it, I hate losing.

“Cricket’s an overly mental game and when you’re playing a Sophie Devine or a Harmanpreet Kaur or a Danni Wyatt, if you can put them off their game even for a split second then you’ve got an advantage.

“And that doesn’t have to be nasty, it doesn’t have to be personal, it just could be a funny joke that makes them laugh that puts them off just a little bit, that’s how I approach it.

“Banter more than anything else. I don’t think I’ve ever crossed the line, but people just get a bit annoyed by me.”

Healy played her first season in the English Kia Super League (the UK version of the Big Bash) for the Yorkshire Diamonds in August last year and the 29-year-old says it helped win over her doubters.

“A lot of the Poms don’t really know me that well, they just hate me from behind the stumps,” she says.

“So for me to be able to go over there and play alongside them, in their competition and for them to get to know me and share a beer after the game, is a good thing so they can see I’m not exactly like I am on the field.”

Healy plays the game with a smile on her face ...

... and with runs always on her mind.

But it’s Healy’s infectious chirpiness that Aussie vice-captain Rachael Haynes deliberately seeks out when she feels things are getting a bit too serious. Sophie Molineux describes her the team’s “barometer”.

“Healy’s a vocal figure … when she speaks you listen, because it’s always useful information. A bit of drivel, but mostly useful,” says Nicola Carey.

And the golf-loving opening batter is again proving her worth for the Australian cricket team during their current T20 World Cup campaign.

The Aussies are now two wins and one loss into their quest for back-to-back trophies, with a must-win game against New Zealand lined-up for Monday in Melbourne.

Win and the green and gold qualify for finals. Healy will be crucial to their success.

On Thursday in Australia’s 86-run win over Bangladesh she whacked a quick-fire 83 (53) to propel her to the top of the tournament’s run-scorer list.

The innings became the most runs scored in one sitting by a keeper in the history of the T20 World Cup.

Her 151-run partnership with Beth Mooney set a new record for the biggest batting partnership in the T20 format for the Aussies. Her two catches with the gloves mean she’s taken 22 in total in all her T20 World Cup matches – the most of any keeper.

It’s been an incredible career and one she’s worked hard for.

About two years ago, she upped her fitness, worked on her techniques and embraced the challenge of being elevated in the batting order to opener.

“I was at a sort-of crossroads in my career where I could walk away from the game as a happy 28-year-old who felt like she’d contributed what she could to the team, or I could walk away from the team as an ecstatic 32-year-old that helped her team win games in key moments,” she says.

Healy’s form behind the stumps is as important to the team’s success as her mountain of runs.

The niece of cricketing great, Ian, she sees it as a blessing to be gifted the name.

“I’ve often wondered whether (selectors) would have looked twice at the young keeper from NSW if she didn’t have the last name Healy,” she says.

“Originally, it was always talked about, Ian Healy’s niece and she’s all right too. But at the moment, it’s just me, which is really cool.

“I’ve been given the opportunity to make my own name in cricket.”

So having worked so hard to forge her own identity on the field, when she married Aussie quick Mitchell Starc she wasn’t going to swap one famous cricketing name for another (although she has changed her surname away from cricket).

“I’ve always joked that I played my whole career as Healy, so why would I give him (Mitchell) any credit?”

Healy has her sights firmly set on back-to-back T20 World Cup victories.

Healy started playing aged nine, wanting to be a fast bowler, but found her home behind the stumps. She’s overcome the thinking that “a lady should have nice fingers” and broken every single one of them.

But it was when she became the first girl at Sydney’s Barker College in 2006 to play in the first XI – sparking outcry and making front page news – that she realised she’d also have to overcome sexism.

“I’d never experienced really sexist behaviour before in my life, I think my parents dealt with it more than I had to. I always just played with the boys and I was one of them.

“I never heard anything negative come out of it, there might have been behind the scenes, but I didn’t have to deal with it.

“So, for the first time in my life it sort of hit me that that happens and that (girls playing cricket) we’re spoken about negatively.”

Not anymore. Women’s cricket has been forever changed by the likes of Healy.