Healy's push to open 'was a real turning point' in her career

It was a decision that shaped a cricket team and defined a career. Alyssa Healy had already been a part of four World Cup wins, but a tactical shift in 2017 took her game - and Australia - to new levels.

After the 2017 ODI World Cup semi-final loss to India the then-coach Matthew Mott made the call to permanently put Healy up to open the batting in both limited-overs formats. She had done it on and off during the first phase of her career and given glimpses of how it could work, most notably 90 off 61 balls against India in 2012 when she did the role for two years before slipping down the order.

Prior to October 2017 when the full-time move was made, Healy's batting returns in the two white-ball formats read: 495 runs in 41 ODI innings at 15.96 striking at 92.00, and 811 runs in 58 T20Is innings at 17.63 striking at 111.24. After the move the comparative numbers, for which there's a handful of ODIs remaining, read: 3068 ODI runs at 45.11, strike-rate 101.08, and 2243 T20I runs at 30.31, strike-rate 138.11.

"I didn't feel comfortable probably for the first eight years of my career. I was looking for where I fit in, looking for a spot," Healy said on the Willow Talk podcast where she broke the news of her retirement, having kept the timing of the decision under wraps, so much so that even senior Cricket Australia figures were unaware until Monday.

"I remember standing down one end and they gave me a crack opening the batting early in my career and I couldn't hit 'em off the square. Meg [Lanning] made a hundred off about 60 balls in that same game and I was just like, 'oh, I'm not cut out for this'. This young kid's come in and just doing this and I can't even hit it off the square.

"But it probably wasn't until Matthew Mott came in and after that 2017 World Cup that he gave me that role of opening the batting and backing me. And there's some sort of Bazball similarities to this. It's like, it's not going to come off all the time, but when it does come off, you're going to get us in a really good spot as a side that we can really launch pad from.

"I think that was the first time I really felt, not back because that's not fair, but I felt like I was really clear in what I wanted to achieve and a role that I'd been given. I took real responsibility of that and that kind of gave me that edge to go out there and execute it. That was a real moment of clarity for me.

"I feel like that was a real turning point and I probably could have floated through my career and just done my job. I would have been more than happy with that, being a part of successful teams, but I guess to get that opportunity and then kind of go and execute and have some real success was really cool."

Six months into being locked in at the top, and having helped retain the Ashes in the 2017-18 season, Healy hammered 133 off 115 balls against India in Vadodara and later in 2018 was Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup in West Indies.

Healy's defining hour came at the MCG in March 2020. She made higher scores than the 75 (off just 39 balls) that she clobbered against India that day - she had flayed 148 off 61 against Sri Lanka earlier that same season and her back-to-back hundreds to secure the 2022 ODI World Cup were immense - but her role in deciding that T20 World Cup final, in front of 86,000 people, was spectacular.

However, even in that crowning moment, for Healy it was the backstory and build-up that made it. "Probably everyone will look at those flashy moments and go that was who she was and how she played," she told reporters in Sydney on Tuesday. "But I think for me, from a cricket perspective, some of the times I've had to grind it out have been probably the more impressive knocks. It might be a scratchy 30, it might not be 170 in a World Cup final, but sometimes it's a 30 that gets you back into the game.

"I look back on the T20 World Cup here. I couldn't hit the ball off the square leading into that World Cup and was told I shouldn't be playing in the side. Then just to grind out a 50 in that first game [a defeat against India], I think set me on a great path to do something really special in that World Cup."

The only missing piece in Healy's career was the chance to hold a World Cup aloft as captain herself, with both the T20 and ODI titles slipping from Australia's grasp in the past 12 months. However, she was able to celebrate a 16 points to nil Ashes whitewash last season, having fought through injury to play the Test at the MCG.

For Healy, the runs, catches and trophies are only part of it, something she admitting feeling more acutely with the finishing line now in sight. The sport has also changed massively during Healy's time. When she began, central contracts were in their infancy. Now, as Healy noted, a host of her Australia team-mates were in India at the WPL.

"I feel like the cricket side of it is one thing, but it's the little moments and the interactions that I feel like I've had outside of the game, whether it be inspiring a young girl or boy to pick up the game or to talk to somebody about the game, that's really what's made all this special," she said. "It's probably only today that's really hit me, that that probably means more to me than the runs on the board or the dismissals. It's about growing the game and inspiring the next generation so hopefully I've done that."

Healy came through the Australian cricket pathways from junior level with fellow greats Lanning and Ellyse Perry. They would form part of one of the most dominant sports teams in history. From early March, it will be just Perry who remains active at international level. There is no shortage of talent in the Australian game, and names such as Sutherland and Litchfield will likely be talked of in the same breath as that trio in the future, but a new era has certainly arrived.