Healy Ruled Out WPL Due to Stress Injury, Future Plans Uncertain

Australian cricketer Alyssa Healy has confirmed she will miss the upcoming Women's Premier League (WPL) season due to a stress injury in her right foot. The 34-year-old had been struggling with various injuries over the past year, including a setback from a plantar fascia rupture earlier this year.

Healy revealed that she had a "frightening" 18 months of dealing with injuries, which included a knee injury and multiple surgeries. Despite her efforts to regain fitness, she has now been diagnosed with a stress reaction in her foot, forcing her to take a break from cricket for several months.

"I'm pretty bummed by that, but at the same time, I am elated to have a little bit of downtime and try and get my body right," Healy said. "It's going to be a huge load coming off not a lot of cricket for a lot of the girls in the winter."

Healy had been playing a pivotal role for Australia, shifting from her traditional wicket-keeping and batting positions due to the team's need for change. However, she will now miss the WPL finals as well as the upcoming T20I series against New Zealand.

The team has undergone significant changes, with Beth Mooney taking over the gloves duties while Healy plays in the middle order. Georgia Voll made her debut as an opener and Tahlia McGrath was selected at No. 8 ahead of specialist bowlers.

Healy will also miss Australia's three-match T20I series against New Zealand that starts just two days after the WPL final in March. The team has a relatively quiet schedule until the ODI series in India in September, which runs straight into the ODI World Cup.

The Australian women's cricket team is facing an uncertain future for Healy beyond the ODI World Cup later this year. However, she remains coy about her plans, saying that she has some thoughts on what might be next for her career but wants to prioritize getting her body right before making any long-term decisions.

"Most importantly, when I took on this role, I wanted to get us to that ODI World Cup and get us into a place where we wanted to be," she said. "To hold that trophy at the end of it was always what I wanted."