Ellyse Perry back Alyssa Healy to be Australia’s full-time captain ahead of India tour

Sydney, Nov 24: Premier fast-bowling all-rounder Ellyse Perry said she is expecting wicketkeeper-batter Alyssa Healy to take over as Australia's new full-time captain after the international retirement of Meg Lanning.

Alyssa has stood in for Meg as the team’s captain over the last 12 months - in Australia’s tour of India, Women’s Ashes in England and the white-ball series against West Indies. With 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup and 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup, plus a home Ashes series, Australia is expected to soon appoint a full-time captain ahead of a multi-format tour of India next month.

"Obviously Midge (Healy) has done that job a number of times across the last 18 months and she's done a great job with that. We have a strong leadership group with some really experienced players in our team. So my assumption would be that Midge will carry on doing it, but I don't have any further insight than that," Ellyse was quoted as saying by ABC Sport.

The tour of India will also see the Australia women's team play a Test in India for the first time since 1984, when the longer format game happens from December 21-24 at the Wankhede Stadium. It will be followed by a three-match ODI and T20I series, coming at a time when other teams are slowly closing on the gap in women’s international cricket.

"The landscape has changed quite rapidly because we've got some really great challenges from quite a few countries. So the way we want to take our game forward has coincided with Midge leading the ship. I think that's presented a great opportunity for her and the group to look at things freshly and almost have a blank canvas to start working off," added Ellyse.