As Phoebe Litchfield and Georgia Voll secured the 25 runs Australia needed to cap off an emphatic Test win at the WACA Ground, Alyssa Healy was nowhere to be seen.
The retiring Australia captain was absent from the bench and could not be spied watching from the viewing room.
Having turned down an offer from coach Shelley Nitschke to open the batting, Healy sat alone in the dressing room, soaking up her final minutes as an international cricketer.
“I was in the change room, just soaking it all in and wanting to take my spikes off, but I knew if I took my spikes off, I might have to put them back on and pad up,” Healy told reporters on Sunday.
“So I was just hanging around hoping to not have to bat and when there was one run to get, I was able to take everything off and just enjoy that moment.
“It was nice to not (have it) be about me.”
Healy revealed there had been no shortage of peer pressure from her teammates, and egging on from the Perth crowd, trying to convince her to add to her career tally of 7,333 international runs.
The 35-year-old was having none of it. She had scored 13 in Australia’s first innings and enjoyed a fairytale ending to her one-day career in Hobart one week earlier when she scored 158.
Today, Healy was handing over the metaphorical baton to the next generation, leaving it in the hands of a pair of 22-year-olds to secure the 10-wicket win.
“That didn’t need to be a moment today,” she said of a potential final knock.
“It’s in some way a look into the future that you’ve got Litchfield and Voll striding out to open the batting again in Test cricket.
“I didn’t want that to be disruptive at any point and I was more than happy to do absolutely nothing today and get the win so and I’m pleased to have to have basically done that.”
“Shelley did actually ask me at one point if it’s something I wanted to do, and I said, ‘No, it’s not what I’m about, and it’s not what the team’s about either’. We pride ourselves on being team first.”
Healy had never planned on announcing the end of her career ahead of time, instead hoping to smoke bomb her way into retirement.
But the need for Australia to forge ahead with a new T20I leader ahead of the looming World Cup forced her hand, and the Healy farewell tour spanned Brisbane and Hobart before culminating in Perth, where the WACA Ground was decked out with a ‘Healy Hill’ and hand-held fans featuring Healy’s face were handed out.
Upon reflection, the long goodbye was worth it. If nothing else, a covert retirement plan would never have allowed her to bowl for the first time in international cricket.
“It’s been cool,” she said of the farewell fanfare. “I’m actually glad that I did announce it, and it’s allowed me the opportunity to just enjoy every moment and be grateful for the last 16 years, 20 years when you throw in domestic cricket.
“I’ve had a very enjoyable career, and the last two weeks of it have just been really special as well. So I’m very lucky.”
Healy walks away from international cricket as Australia’s third-highest female run scorer across all formats, with only Meg Lanning and Ellyse Perry ahead of her.
She executed 269 dismissals as wicketkeeper, a world record in the women’s game, and hit nine international centuries from her 299 matches.
While a Test ton went begging, Healy has a trophy cabinet overflowing with two ODI World Cups, six T20 World Cups and a host of Ashes victories.
The most emphatic of those was the 2025 series Healy oversaw as captain, when Australia trounced England 16-0 in a multi-format sweep that may never be repeated.
There’s no doubt Healy is proud of those achievements – the ever-cheeky skipper was quick on the DM when a social media post made by the team’s Instagram channel accidentally forgot one of her World Cup titles last week – but reflecting on her overall legacy, the wicketkeeper-batter took a broader view.
“I’ve been asked that a little bit over the last few days, and it came out of the blue, it hit me that I think I’m actually most proud of the captaincy and taking on that role,” she said.
“It might seem a little bit weird that I’d say that it’s a little bit out of character to put myself out there and be really brave, because that’s the way that I approach my cricket, but to make that phone call to (selector Shawn Flegler) and say, ‘I want to be captain’ was a big, massive thing for me.
“I learned so much about myself, about other people, about this team in general, and where I wanted to take this group.
“I would have loved to hold a couple of World Cups as skipper, but in saying that, that’s a selfish one.
“I think what we’ve been able to achieve culturally with this group leaves them in such an amazing space for the future, so I’m really proud of that.
“I’m really proud of putting myself out there and taking that opportunity, as hard as it was day in, day out.”
Asked what is next, Healy said she wasn’t sure – and the endless possibilities of life outside the regimented structure of professional cricket is exciting her.
First though, she has one more trophy to win. Healy confirmed she will play for New South Wales in their upcoming domestic 50-over final in Sydney on March 21, where she’ll be aiming to win ‘Ruth’ – the Ruth Preddey Cup – one final time.
“I started my career with New South Wales, and to finish it technically, officially with them, is going to be a really special experience,” she said.
“But after that (I’ll) rediscover or discover who I am away from cricket.
“There’s a little bit of sadness just sitting in the change room and realising that I don’t get to come back, I’m not coming back next week and sitting with that group of people.
“That made me sad, more so than anything cricket related … (but) I can genuinely say that I’m sitting here really excited, I’m excited to celebrate a win, and excited for what my life is going to look like.”