Alyssa Healy caps dominant season in awards clean sweep
Alyssa Healy capped a dominant season by securing all three major prizes on offer at the Australian Cricket awards, including her first Belinda Clark Award as Australia’s best female cricketer.
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Alyssa Healy finally started to believe in herself in 2018 and a clean sweep at the Australian Cricket Awards was the result.
A new wing on the house she shares with her husband, test quick Mitchell Starc, could be in order to store all the silverware she has collected after an astonishing 12 months.
Healy secured her first Belinda Clark Award as Australia’s best female cricketer, breaking the five-year domination of Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry.
Named the International Cricket Council’s T20 player of the year in December, Healy dominated the voting.
The 28-year-old finished on 43 votes, 13 clear of Megan Schutt with Perry (27) third.
The honour comes after she was named player of the World T20 tournament in the West Indies in November.
She was player of the match in three of five T20 games, including the semi-final win against the West Indies which she played after suffering concussion in the final pool game when she collided with Schutt.
Healy was so dominant for Australia in 2018 that she was also named the women’s one-day and T20 player of the year.
“You can always have people telling you how talented you are but it you don’t believe it yourself, you’re never going to be successful,” she said.
“If I dug deep enough, I know that’s where it came from, the belief that I could contribute more. Knowing that I had done the work to contribute was a big one too.
“It’s been an unbelievable 12 months, and one that I am very proud of, but hopefully one I can build on.”
Healy was her team’s best player in the past 12 months.
In 23 matches across all formats during the voting period, Healy scored 907 runs at an average of 45.35, during which she scored her maiden one-day century against India.
Healy, the wife of Test bowler Mitchell Starc, also took 18 catches and executed 15 stumpings as wicketkeeper in a year she established herself as one of the best women players in the world.
“I’ve been told no-one peaks until they are 28, and here I am ready to go,” she said.
“I’ll have to hold Mitch on the baby front and hopefully go out and play a few more World Cups. Hopefully the last few years of my career will be special.”
AUSTRALIAN CRICKET AWARDS — THE WINNERS
ALLAN BORDER MEDAL
Pat Cummins
BELINDA CLARK AWARD
Alyssa Healy
MALE TEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Nathan Lyon
MALE ODI PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Marcus Stoinis
MALE T20 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Glenn Maxwell
MALE DOMESTIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Matthew Wade
DON BRADMAN YOUNG CRICKETER OF THE YEAR
Will Pucovski
FEMALE ODI PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Alyssa Healy
FEMALE T20 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Alyssa Healy
FEMALE DOMESTIC PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Heather Graham
BETTY WILSON YOUNG CRICKETER OF THE YEAR
Georgia Wareham
ALLAN BORDER MEDAL TOP FIVE
Pat Cummins 156 votes
Nathan Lyon 150
Aaron Finch 146
Marcus Stoinis/Usman Khawaja 102
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