Alyssa Healy

Born on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Healy is the daughter of Greg, who was a member of the Queensland squad, while Greg's younger brother Ian was Australia's Test wicket-keeper from the late 1980s until 1999 and was the world record holder for the most Test dismissals.

Another uncle, Ken, played for Queensland.

Despite the family heritage, and watching her uncle represent Australia, she said that she did not become interested in cricket until she moved from Queensland to Sydney as a child and was coaxed into taking up the sport by a friend.

She attended high school at MLC School and later Barker College.

Alyssa Jean Healy (born 24 March 1990) is an Australian cricketer who plays and captains the Australian women's national team.

She also plays for New South Wales in domestic cricket, as well as the Sydney Sixers in the WBBL and captains the UP Warriorz in Women's Premier League in India.

Healy first came to prominence in late 2006 when she became the first girl to play among boys in the private schools' competition in New South Wales.

Her selection at the age of 16 in late 2006 as wicket-keeper for Barker College First XI, the first time a girl had been picked to play among boys in the elite private schools' cricket competition in New South Wales, drew press commentary from various sources.

This came about after an anonymous person, believed to be a former male student, circulated an email entitled "Save Barker Cricket Now" in the school community attacking the selection as a "disgrace" and calling for gender segregation of the cricket team.

The sportsmaster of Barker College condemned the anonymous writer as "gutless" and maintained that Healy's selection was based on merit.

Ian Healy and Alex Blackwell, a cricketer for the Australian women's team and former Barker student, also defended the selection and criticised the email author.

The emailer was also criticised, and Alyssa Healy commended, by social commentators in newspapers.

She moved up the state age group ranks and made her debut for the senior New South Wales team in the 2007–08 season.

She played most of her first two seasons as a specialist batter due to the presence of Leonie Coleman—also a wicket-keeper for Australia—in the state side.

In January 2007, Healy was selected in the New South Wales team to play in the Under-19 interstate competition.

Opening the batting in all three matches and keeping in only the second of these, she scored 47, 73 and 41 in her first three matches, and took one catch.

She went on to end with 345 runs at a batting average of 57.50, topping the run-scorers list and was named the best under-17 player at the tournament.

The following month, she was selected in the Australia Youth team, composed of under-23 cricketers, to play against New Zealand A, the only player selected before making their senior domestic debut.

She scored 10 not out, 41 and 63 in three matches, and made one stumping.

Though she top-scored amongst the Australians in the final match with 63 from 84 balls, it was not enough to prevent a 22-run defeat.

She played as a wicket-keeper batting in the middle-order in the first match, and opened in the last two matches, playing purely as a batter.

Coleman left New South Wales at the start of the 2009–10 season and Healy took up the glovework on a full-time basis for her state.

During the same season, she recorded her highest score of 89 not out at faster than a run a ball, and made the most dismissals of any wicket-keeper in the Women's National Cricket League.

She made her international debut in February 2010.

A right-handed batter and wicket-keeper, she is the daughter of Greg Healy, who was part of the Queensland squad, while her uncle Ian Healy was Australia's Test wicket-keeper and held the world record for the most Test dismissals.

Another uncle, Greg and Ian's brother Ken Healy, also played cricket for Queensland.

Following the injury to Australian captain and wicket-keeper Jodie Fields, Healy was given her international debut in the 2010 Rose Bowl series against New Zealand.

She played in the first five One Day Internationals (ODIs) and five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is), but was dropped for the last three ODIs during the New Zealand leg of the series.

Healy played in every match of the 2010 World Twenty20 as Australia won the tournament after an unbeaten campaign.

In 2010, she reflected "I'd do it all again...I really enjoyed playing school cricket with the boys and it definitely helped lift my skills and tighten my technique."

Both she and Australian teammate Ellyse Perry have publicly advocated girls playing against boys.

Healy was pat of Australia's squad for the 2018 ICC Women's World Twenty20 tournament in the West Indies, and finished as the tournament's leading runs scorer with 225 runs and won player of the tournament.

In December 2018, the International Cricket Council (ICC) named her the T20I Player of the Year.

In September 2019, during Australia's series against Sri Lanka, Healy played in her 100th WT20I match.

In the same series, Healy set a new record for the highest individual score in a Women's T20I match, with 148 not out.

In January 2020, she was named in Australia's squad for the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Australia.

Healy finished second highest runs scorer in the tournament with 236 runs.

In the final, she scored a quickfire 75 off 39 balls against India to help Australia win their fifth title and won player of the match.

In September 2020, in the second WT20I match against New Zealand, Healy took her 92nd dismissal as a wicket-keeper.

As a result, she went past M. S. Dhoni's record of 91 dismissals, to set a new record of most dismissals as a wicket-keeper, male or female, in Twenty20 International cricket.