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AAP
AAP
Scott Bailey

Healy set to miss India ODIs through knee injury

An injury means Australian captain Alyssa Healy is set to miss the ODI series against India. (Jono Searle/AAP PHOTOS)

Alyssa Healy is set to miss Australia's one-day series against India as the national captain battles to regain full fitness ahead of this summer's Ashes.

Australia will on Saturday name a squad for their home series against India and a brief tour of New Zealand, both comprising three ODIs.

Selectors are expected to keep the faith with their core group and reject calls for change after Australia's semi-final loss at last month's Twenty20 World Cup.

But AAP understands Healy will miss at least the matches against India, while there is some hope she will return to face New Zealand in the week before Christmas.

Healy has endured a frustrating run with injuries, missing the end of Australia's T20 World Cup campaign with a foot injury.

She then returned part-way through the WBBL with the Sydney Sixers and had limited time at the crease, before the knee issue emerged and she was unable to keep wicket.

The 34-year-old was subsequently ruled out of the end of the WBBL, and is now expected to be kept on ice for the ODIs against India in Brisbane and Perth.

Beth Mooney can fill in as a wicketkeeper for Australia, while Tahlia McGrath will captain.

Georgia Voll would be one option to replace Healy in the squad, after the 21-year-old has impressed at the top in the WBBL.

Katie Mack and Georgia Redmayne are among other players who could also be considered for inclusion in the squad.

Speedster Tayla Vlaeminck will also miss, after successful surgery on her dislocated shoulder. Darcie Brown is expected to be fit to return.

The matches come at a crucial time for Australia, whose semi-final defeat to South Africa marked their first unsuccessful World Cup campaign in any format since 2017.

Selectors are expected to go with a largely unchanged group, confident their wider squad is still the right one.

Tahlia McGrath is expected to captain Australia.
Tahlia McGrath is expected to captain Australia in the absence of the injured Alyssa Healy. (Dan Himbrechts/AAP PHOTOS)




Chief selector Shawn Flegler is also confident a regeneration of the squad is on track, with three players aged under 25 and seven new faces between the 2020 and 2024 World Cups.

"We think we have the capability, the players are there. It's just the mindset to get it right," Flegler told AAP.

"We are still the hunted, you can't play within yourself, you have to play to the best of your capabilities."

A review is ongoing into Australia's World Cup exit, with tactics rather than personnel more likely to come under the microscope.

"Things like we played (spinner) Georgia Wareham at No.3,'' Flegler said.

"She is the first to admit she didn't play the way she wanted to (with the bat).

"Midge (Healy) getting injured changed things. The decision was made to replace her with Grace (Harris) up the top.

"You look at her numbers opening the batting in domestic stuff, and it was least disruptive to the team.

"We could have looked at Pez (Ellyse Perry), Tahlia or Phoebe (Litchfield) to open. We went with Grace in the end, it didn't come off. That's the sort of stuff we'll look at.

"If we had our time again would we do it differently? Maybe. But with the information we had, we thought that was the right call to make."

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