Had considered quitting cricket before top-order boost, reveals Alyssa Healy

Alyssa Healy has become Australia's mainstay at the top of the order in limited-overs cricket and with the T20 World Cup set to be played on their home turf, she will be one of their main weapons especially in the powerplay. But there was also a time when Healy almost decided to give up on cricket.

"I remember having this discussion with (national selector) Shawn Flegler... it wasn't necessarily that I felt like I was at a crossroads, but I could have easily walked away from the game and been happy with what I'd done and that I'd contributed to successful teams," Healy was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

"I think I was probably just frustrated with my cricket and didn't really know what more I could achieve or what more I could do to better myself or my cricket," she further added.

But Healy hung on and has had a fantastic last couple of years, having scored over 1,000 runs in limited-overs cricket for Australia. She was also the player of the tournament in Australia's T20 World Cup triumph of 2018.

Also see – Women’s cricket world cup schedule

After Australia were knocked out of the 2017 Women's World Cup by India, there was a big reshuffle and Healy was given a permanent position at the top of the order. This was a major turnaround in her career as her average shooted up to 57.15 in ODIs and 38.76 in T20Is.

"Being given that opportunity to bat at the top of the order in that Ashes series is something that probably changed my game and changed my approach to the game and got me really rejuvenated about my cricket," Healy said.

"For me, that was probably the flick of the switch I needed to work a bit harder to make sure I maintained that spot. I'm grateful that that happened. I'm definitely still enjoying my cricket and we'll see where it goes," she concluded.