Australia and UP Warriorz captain Alyssa Healy has opted out of the upcoming edition of the Women's Premier League due to stress injury to her right foot and was non committal about her future beyond the ODI World Cup in India later this year.
Healy has captained UP Warriorz in each of the first two editions of the WPL with the third one set to be held across four venues in Vadodara, Lucknow, Bengaluru and Mumbai from February 14 to March 15.
Healy captained Australia in their emphatic women's Ashes win over England but has struggled in the last few months with her fitness, barely making it to the one-off Test after missing the T20Is.
She did not keep wickets in the one-off Test which forced Australia to make wholesome changes to their playing combination.
"Unfortunately for me, I've got a couple of months with (my) feet up, so I'm pretty bummed by that," Healy said after Australia Womens thrashed England in their one-off Test by an innings and 122 runs.
"But at the same time (I am) elated to have a little bit of downtime and try and get my body right. It's been a really frustrating probably 18 months for me."
She said she is going to have a look at a couple of things and how she can be better.
"You get yourself right back playing and something else goes wrong. So (I am) just going to have a look at a couple of things and how I can be better, maybe a bit more disciplined in some areas, and make sure I'm right to go in particular for that ODI World Cup," she 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. So just managing things to get right for that. But I'm looking forward to sticking my feet in an ice bucket for a bit," she said.
Healy had a torn plantar fascia (thick connective tissue aponeurosis which supports the arch on the bottom of the foot) in the last T20 World Cup in October which forced her out of a couple of matches, including the semifinal against South Africa.
She missed a large part of the Women's Big Bash League owing to a knee injury and did not play in the home ODI series against India and played in ODIs against New Zealand only as a batter in order to be available for the first three ODIs of the Ashes.
With the ODI World Cup later this year, Healy said she has some ideas for herself after the mega event.
"I've got some thoughts in the back of my mind about what it looks like for me moving forward," she said.
"But I think most importantly for me, 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 in a really great place as a group, playing some really good cricket, and obviously to hold that trophy at the end of it," she added.
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