Alyssa Healy announces retirement from all cricket formats after India multi-format series

Australian women's cricket captain Alyssa Healy has confirmed she will retire from all forms of the game following the upcoming multi-format series against India in February-March 2026. The announcement marks the end of an illustrious career for one of the sport's most influential figures.

"It's been a long time coming," Healy said on Willow Talk, a podcast she's a regular panelist on. "Few injuries. You've got to dive into the well and the well is getting less and less full of water. Getting harder to dive back in there.

"At the end of the day, to have an opportunity to finish at home against India, which is on the calendar one of the biggest series for us. I thought that would be a really cool way to finish with some of my team-mates and some family around as well. It would've been nice to do it in India with a World Cup, but doing it at home will be something special.

"That means I'm not going to the T20 World Cup," she said. "So there might be a little bit of change within that series [against India] leading into the World Cup, but leading on that tour will be really, really special."

"I never wanted to announce it, wanted to get to the end of the Test match (against India, starting March 6 in Perth), but with me not going into the T20 World Cup, it's forced a little bit of change. Not a lot of T20 cricket leading into that for the girls, so it's probably the place for me to make a decision on that format and give the girls an opportunity to prepare for that World Cup knowing that I'm not going to be there.

"It has forced an announcement of sorts, but it has given me some peace as well because I've known this in the back of my mind for probably six months. But to finally say it and get it out there, would be ideal for everyone to just clap it and move on."

(More to follow)