‘Pretty vicious dog attack’: Alyssa Healy’s WBBL campaign in doubt after ‘freak accident’ forces her in for surgery

The Sixers’ winless start to the WBBL season is about to get a lot worse, with star opener Alyssa Healy requiring surgery following a dog bite.

The Sixers are set to be without star wicketkeeper Alyssa Healy for the foreseeable future after Australian teammate Phoebe Litchfield let slip that she was the victim of a “pretty vicious dog attack” that required surgery.

Healy was a late scratching from Sunday’s Sydney Smash, with a Sixers statement confirming that she’d injured her hand in a “domestic accident at home” on Saturday that required surgery the following morning.

No details were given on when she might return to the WBBL or if she was in any doubt for December’s tour of India, but Litchfield did provide an update when speaking on Fox Cricket’s The Blast.

Alyssa Healy could miss a large chunk of the WBBL season after she was reportedly bitten by a dog at home on Saturday night. Picture: Adam Yip

“It sounded like a pretty vicious dog attack,” the Thunder young gun said.

“I don’t know if this is public, but it’s a lacerated finger so hopefully she’s all right and gets all the help she needs.”

Sixers skipper Ellyse Perry spoke with Healy on Saturday night but had no extra details when she chatted with reporters following her side’s 42-run loss at North Sydney Oval.

“It was a freak accident,” she said.

“I’m not across what it was but it was something at home.

“For all of us, we’re sending lots of thoughts and best wishes to her because she’s going to have a recovery period and it would have been a really awful situation.

“It’s a huge blow. It’s not just a blow for us, it’s a blow for the tournament because she’s one of the most exciting and mercurial players in the world.

“It’s been wonderful to have her playing in this comp for the past nine years, so whenever a player like that is missing for a period of time, it’s going to be a blow.

“For our group she’s a huge presence, she’s lots of fun, she’s a big character and the lifeblood of the team, so for however long we’ll miss her, it’ll be a bummer.”

The Sixers are winless after two games but skipper Ellyse Perry says it’s way too early to start panicking. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

Perry conceded losing Healy on the eve of the game was “disruptive” but said it played no part in the loss, the second match in a row to start the new season that last year’s minor premiers have dropped.

The veteran all-rounder looked good in her first game of the year after she missed the tournament opener due to suspension and confirmed that she had to get through a few more training sessions in a bid to return to bowling as she recovered from a knee injury.

The Sixers aren’t pushing the panic button yet despite already matching the two losses they had in the 2022 regular season, and things won’t get any easier with a game against the unbeaten Heat coming up on Tuesday.

“You’d always take the reverse of that (0-2), but in saying that, I don’t think we’re doing anything drastically bad, and there have been lots of good patches of cricket in there,” Perry said after she hit 31 against the Thunder.

“We’re probably feeling our way into the tournament a little bit. It’s always nice to start a bit quicker than we have, but there are lots of positives and high spirits in our camp.”