Australia captain Alyssa Healy opens up on navigating generation gap with international team

A lot has changed since Alyssa Healy was a newbie on the international cricket scene 15 years ago. For the Aussie captain, it’s a transition from tradition as she looks to bridge the gap from the old generation to the new.

Alyssa Healy wondered to herself. “What the?”

This would never have happened when she was a newbie on the international cricket scene 15 years ago.

Back then they had dress standards.

“When I first came into the team, it was ‘you must be in full kit at all times and dressed appropriately. Clean shoes, all this stuff.’ We’re in Bangladesh (last year) and girls are jumping on the bus in their crocs, things like that,” Healy told this masthead ahead of the women’s Ashes series.

“I thought to myself, like ‘what the?’ And it’s just a little mindset thing. (They were saying) ‘that I’m comfortable and this is gonna help me play better’ and I had to shift my thinking about that’s probably more important than throwing a pair of shoes on you don’t want to wear.

“It’s a really silly example, but at the same time, just one of how different things have become like that.”

Alyssa Healy recognises times are changing since she debuted. Picture: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

So anything goes these days, and it’s something Healy – who turns 35 in March – has had to come to terms with as she welcomes the next generation of players side like Phoebe Litchfield, Georgia Voll and Darcie Brown – all more than a dozen years younger than the Australian captain.

Having taken over from Meg Lanning following the Victorian’s international retirement at the end of 2023, Healy has made a concerted effort to try to bridge the generation gap in a team still balanced with older players like Healy, Ellyse Perry, Beth Mooney and Megan Schutt, players in their mid to late-20s such as Tahlia McGrath, Ash Gardner, Kim Garth and Georgia Wareham, and the younger brigade of Litchfield, Voll, Brown and emerging superstar Annabel Sutherland.

Much has changed since Alyssa Healy first put on Australian colours. Picture: Robert Prezioso/Getty Images

Shelley Nitschke had also replaced Matthew Mott as coach in 2022 while vice-captain Rachael Haynes finished up that year as well, meaning what had been a very stable team had in relatively quick succession lost three of its key pillars.

“We had such a big turnover of players and stuff and it was sort of an environment that I felt like we needed to reconnect and get to know one another,” Healy said.

“And I thought that’s probably a really key focus and that’s something that the girls have really bought into, which has been cool and there’s no real secret to it.

“It’s literally just trying to be connected and try and learn more about one another. Not just as cricketers, but people as well and understand where people are at in their lives and finding some interests that you might share outside of the game.

“So it’s been really cool. And I think the having the staff involved in that as well, as part of our unit is really important and having them feel valued in their roles is something that I’m really passionate about as well.”

Even if it has meant making some allowances for the new breed.

“The simplest way I can put it is they just don’t care about some of the stuff that we cared about. I think when I was that age. It’s just different. And I mean, the world’s changed so dramatically in that short space of time, but I can completely get it.

“So from my perspective, it was literally just finding out what is actually really important to a 21-year-old kid in professional sport right now.

“How does that marry up with our values and where we want to be moving forward and giving them the platform to share that as well, I think was really important. So yeah, it’s been really cool. Just letting them you have a say and feel like a really big piece of this puzzle.

Alyssa Healy alongside Georgia Voll, part of the next generation coming Healy talks about. Picture: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

“I never saw myself as being the old girl, but I guess that’s the case now, but just understanding what makes them tick generationally. (It) is very different to us. So that’s been a really eye opening experience for me and one that I’ve kind of really enjoyed.”

Healy and husband Mitch Starc now have nearly three decades of international cricket experience between them, combining for 12 senior ICC titles across women’s and men’s cricket as well as countless other accolades.

For a long time their silverware and cricket mementos have tended to end up in storage, but Starc has moved to change that.

“Mitch claims to know where he knows where all my medals and trophies are,” Healy said.

“They’ve kind of just been everywhere but I believe there’s some sort of cabinet being put together to sort of start showcasing them a little bit more.

“He is the more sentimental one in the household, so he’ll get it sorted.”

Originally published as Australia captain Alyssa Healy opens up on navigating generation gap with international team