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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
'Today matters': Paying tribute to a pioneer of Australian cricket
Glen Hawke • January 13th, 2026 5:49 pm
Today feels different.
Ten years ago, if one of Australia's leading women cricketers retired, it might've made page seven of the sports section. Maybe a brief mention on the news.
Today? It's front page. It's leading bulletins. It's the story everyone's talking about.
And that shift – that transformation in how we value women's sport – didn't happen by accident.
It happened because of players like the one who announced her retirement today.
Alyssa Healy is done. This home summer against India will be her last in Australian colours. The ODIs. The Test match. And then that's it.
She's walking away from the game she loves and has given her so much.
And the wonderful thing is, she's going out on her terms – honest enough to know when the moment's arrived.
I respect that.
Because for nearly 16 years, Alyssa Healy didn't just play for Australia, she changed what we thought was possible.
And I'm not just talking about on the field.
The runs, the dismissals, the seven World Cups... yeah, the numbers are ridiculous. But that's not really what this is about.
It's about how her generation – and she was right at the front of it – turned women's cricket from something we appreciated... into something we couldn't look away from.
I've been lucky enough to have a front row seat to a lot of that journey.
Think about the role she redefined.
You know how Adam Gilchrist changed the game for the men? Turned wicketkeeper-batters from defensive players into match-winners? Made batting at seven feel like opening with a license to attack?
That's exactly what Alyssa did for the women's game. Except, for much of her career she did it from the top of the order.
That role used to be about survival – hang in there, support the top order, don't give it away.
Healy turned it into a weapon.
She opened the batting not to see off the new ball... but to smash games open in the first ten overs.
And she did it with zero fear.
That's what her teammates always say. Zero fear.
Across her career she has owned and dominated those big stages and moments.
MCG, 2020, T20 World Cup Final in front of a record crowd of 86,174.
I was the ground announcer that night. Still the greatest event I've ever been part of.
And she put on a show that made people who'd never watched women's cricket before sit up and pay attention.
And then Christchurch, 2022. That World Cup final. 170 runs. The highest score anyone – man or woman – has ever made in a World Cup final. Complete control. Absolute carnage. England had no answers.
By the end of it, her forearms were cramping from hitting the ball so hard.
And you know what she said about that innings? That the first beer afterward went down like razor blades.
That's Alyssa. No pretense. Just real.
I saw her smash an ODI century at North Sydney Oval against Sri Lanka – same story. Just complete dominance.
That wasn't luck. That wasn't a purple patch. That was someone who saw pressure... and ran straight at it.
And that's when you realized – this wasn't just great women's cricket. This was just great cricket. Full stop.
Now here's what gets me about today's announcement.
She's been honest.
She's said the competitive edge isn't quite what it was. She's recognised what the team needs. And she's strong enough to step away from the T20 format now so the next group can prepare properly.
That's real leadership.
And it's exactly the captain she became, isn't it?
When Meg Lanning stepped away, Healy didn't try to be Meg 2.0. She found her own way. Louder. More emotional. More human. Deeply connected to her teammates. Absolutely relentless on standards. And fiercely protective of what makes Australian cricket the best in the world.
She won nearly 80 per cent of her games as captain. Led an Ashes whitewash.
But more than that? She carried the team from one era into the next.
And here's the thing – she's done all of this while being completely herself.
You've seen her in the commentary box this summer. Articulate, knowledgeable, funny. She doesn't try to be someone she's not.
Yeah, she's married to Mitch Starc, but she's always had her own profile, her own voice, her own personality.
That authenticity? That's part of why people connect with her.
And what she's left behind is a generation of players who think this level of excellence is just... normal.
But here's something else I've seen up close – something that doesn't always make the highlight reels.
After games, Alyssa stays. She engages with young kids, especially young girls who see themselves in her. She signs autographs, she takes photos, she answers questions.
And you can see it in their faces – they're not meeting a celebrity. They're meeting possibility.
They're meeting someone who's real. Who's achieved everything but hasn't changed who she is.
That's impact that goes way beyond statistics.
Just like the fact that today, her retirement is front page news feels... normal.
Ten years ago, it wouldn't have been. Today, it couldn't be anything else.
That might be the greatest measure of what she's achieved.
Now, there's still one last chapter, right? One more Baggy Green. One more home summer. And knowing her, a fair bit of extra motivation to send India home empty-handed.
But today isn't really about what's left to come.
It's about recognising a career that didn't just win trophies – it changed the game itself.
Alyssa Healy never waited for permission. She never waited for the perfect moment. She just created it.
And that's why today matters.
