Alyssa Healy on surgery recovery, captaincy ambitions and why Mitch Starc isn’t really grumpy

Australian women’s cricket wicketkeeper – and aspiring captain – Alyssa Healy says her finger still looks “gross” after a dog bite, but she still has plans afoot to play cricket.

Alyssa Healy was understandably more than a little worried when she suffered a serious finger injury in an accident involving her dogs last month.

After all, as wicketkeeper for the Australian women’s cricket team and one of the country’s top batters, her fingers are literally her livelihood.

And while she says that the wound to her right index finger, which happened while she was trying to break up a fight between her two Staffordshire terriers, still looks “adequately gross” after a month, she says the rehab is going well and she still hopes to take the field when the women’s Test team travels to India next month.

“At the end of the day, I was really lucky,” she says philosophically. “It was fairly significant finger surgery. There’s lots of rehab involved just trying to get it moving and just making sure that functionally it can still do what I need it to do – specifically trying to hold a cricket bat, which I’m confident about and all the experts keep telling me they are really confident about as well.

“I think in my head I am walking out in that Test Match on the 21st of December at Wankhede. That’s a big goal of mine and one that I’m working towards.”

Alyssa Healy in the dressing rooms at Cricket Centra in Silverwater a head of her 250th international in September in a T20 match against the West Indies. Picture: Adam Yip

And as for the dogs in question, which drift in and out of camera on Zoom call from the Sydney home she shares with tearaway Aussie fast bowler Mitchell Starc, all is forgiven already.

“They’re good,” she says with a laugh. “They’re extremely apologetic, which I absolutely love. We’re all still friends and more than anything it was my fault at the end of the day, so I’m to blame more than them.”

While she’s hoping to get back to what she does best as soon as possible, Healy’s injury has meant she will miss the remainder of the Women’s Big Bash League season, in which she plays a key role in the Sydney Sixers side.

Fortunately, she’s had plenty of onscreen action to enjoy, from watching Starc help power the men’s ODI side to World Cup glory, to seeing her cricketing comrades do battle in the eighth season of the WBBL. There’s even been a silver lining in being able to further explore the commentary side of the game, which is something she is keen to pursue once she’s finally pulled up stumps as a player.

Many retired players find it difficult to adjust to media duties, especially in their early years of commentating, when they are expected to give forthright and honest opinions on the people they only recently called teammates. For Healy, who is very much still in her playing career, she acknowledges that it can be an “intricate balance”.

Recently retired Aussie cricket captain Meg Lanning of the Melbourne Stars and Alyssa Healy of the Sydney Sixers on the Skywalk of the Sydney Tower Eye last month. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“I hope that there’s a level of respect between players – and in particular for people that are still playing the game – that what is said on the TV is not personal,” she says. “It’s never an attack on any individual, it’s purely talking about what’s happening there and then on the field and talking about tactics, or potentially what could unfold.”

Although she says that media scrutiny is “water off a duck’s back” to her, she might need to get used to a whole lot more of it. With long-serving women’s captain Meg Lanning’s surprise retirement from international cricket this month, Healy is one of the frontrunners for the job. Having filled in as skipper in the past, Healy says that she’s already expressed interest and would relish the challenge and honour of taking on the post full-time. With a T20 and ODI World Cups coming over the next two years, it’s a crucial time for the national team and Healy thinks she has what it takes “to take our game to the next level and stay ahead of the pack”.

“Hopefully I can play a part in that,” she says. “But at the same time if it’s not me, then it’s going to be the next generation of the leader within our group, which is really exciting, and I’ll support them right along the way.”

Healy, who has been part of the women’s national side in all formats for more than 12 years, says she’s learned a lot from Lanning’s “ruthlessness and resilience” and the way the veteran led by example to sometimes drag the team to victory almost single-handedly. But after initially feeling the weight of responsibility that comes with the top job, more recently Healy says she’s learned not to sweat the small stuff.

“I have changed as a leader over the last 12 months,” she reflects. “Initially, I probably cared way too much. That’s not a bad thing, but I probably cared about everything that was going on. I cared about every individual, every decision that was being made and it probably really dragged me down.”

Mitchell Starc and Alyssa Healy arrive ahead of the 2023 Australian Cricket Awards at Royal Randwick Racecourse. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Healy says she’s loved seeing her husband of seven years – the pair met playing cricket when they were 9 – perform his heroics at the World Cup, although not as much as he loves seeing her play.

“I think there’s just an anxiousness in wanting one another to do well, and that probably creates a level of nerves,” she says of watching the overnight matches. “But I enjoy watching him play. He’s a lot grumpier on telly than what he is in real life.”

But after so many years of playing professionally – she made her debut for New South Wales in 2007 a year earlier than he did – they tend to talk about “everything but cricket” when they are away from the game.

“We’ve got lots of experts around us that tell us what to do day in and day out, so I don’t need to tell him anything about fast bowling and he doesn’t need to tell me anything about my game,” she says. “Ninety-eight per cent of our chats are about the dogs or the golf course.”

The pair have also had very different experiences playing professional cricket in Australia. While funding, resources and remuneration for the women’s game has come along in leaps and bounds over the past decade – with a major bump earlier this year – it has traditionally trailed the men’s game significantly. Healy says there is “still a long way to go” but things are heading in the right direction.

“I think I signed my first ever Aussie contract for $5000 for the 12 months, and I thought I was the richest human being on the planet,” Healy recalls. “The fact that I could quit my job at KFC and take on cricket full-time and make a living out of the game is something that I never thought that I’d get the opportunity to do back when I was 17, 18 and just starting out.”

See Alyssa Healy as part of the Fox Sports Summer of Cricket on Foxtel and Kayo.

Originally published as Alyssa Healy on surgery recovery, captaincy ambitions and why Mitch Starc isn’t really grumpy