Women's World Cup: Australia captain Alyssa Healy set to return for India semis

Australia captain Alyssa Healy has given positive indications that she could be fit for the ICC Women's World Cup semi-final against India in two days' time as she trained rigorously and completed her fitness test, in Navi Mumbai, on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old wicketkeeper-batter had missed the league games against England and South Africa due to a calf injury she suffered while training, with Tahlia McGrath stepping in to lead the seven-time champions.

Healy has been in red-hot form in the tournament, scoring back-to-back centuries against India and Bangladesh as Australia maintained a clean slate in the league games to top the points table.

"Australia skipper Alyssa Healy trained strongly on Tuesday (October 28) just two days before Australia's ICC Women's World Cup 2025 semi-final clash against India,"

said ICC in an injury update on Healy.

"In Mumbai, Healy gave positive indications that her recovery was progressing well, getting through a fitness test at the start of the session. She then participated in wicket-keeping drills before undertaking a full net session, the latter half of which she was seen going big against the net bowlers," the ICC update stated.

Australia head coach Shelley Nitschke had said before the game against South Africa at Indore that he was hopeful Healy would regain full fitness ahead of the semifinal.

"She wasn't quite up to it (for the match against South Africa), but she'll continue to be assessed," Nitschke had said after the defending champions' seven-wicket win against the Proteas.

"We're really hopeful for the semi-final, but still a few days to play out before that. And we're hopeful again, she'll just continue to be assessed the closer we get to that."

Healy's best performance in the tournament so far has come against India where she smacked 142 runs, including 21 boundaries and three sixes as Australia won by three wickets in a 300-plus chase.