30 March - Wellington - Australia player Alyssa Healy post-match press conference

Reporter: So first, I guess it was a pretty perfect performance for the whole team?

Alysa Healy: Yeah, it was probably exactly what we've been searching for this whole World Cup. Yeah, which was awesome and I guess to be able to do it on the big stage under pressure as a group was really pleasing and hopefully we can do it once more on Sunday.

Reporter: You've been a big game player for quite a while but that was your first World Cup century in an ODI World Cup. Is that been a bit of a source of frustration for you that it's not quite happened yet?

Alysa Healy: Not really. I wasn't aware that's that so no it hasn't really been a source of frustration. I suppose. The way I've managed to find ways to get myself out through this World Cup is probably more - more of a frustration. So I guess for me today to be able to go on and I guess just help the team get to a big total and build a really good score on what wasn't exactly the flattest wicket going around it. It was doing a bit so that was probably more pleasing than anything else. But yeah, it's always been fun and sharing the crease with Rach Haynes as well, so it was good.

Reporter: You had a bit of a smile there when I said big game player, but is there something that you perhaps don't see yourself as?

Alysa Healy: Now that's a funny one. I don't know. I don't like it. It sounds a bit arrogant. When someone says that - at the end of the day, I've been saying it all along this World Cup, It hasn't really been a one man show at any point. I feel like there's four batters now in the top five run scorers. All our wickets are spread across the bowling attack. So from my point of view, someone was going to step up today and do a really good job for our group and I think multiple did today, so it was just really pleasing and we know that any one of us can do it in any situation which is awesome.

Reporter: Lastly, for me – at the end of the 2017 World Cup you were averaging just under 16. And since then you're up to just under 50, is the change just you moving up the order or how have you seen it?

Alysa Healy: Yeah, I guess being given an opportunity at the top does do that, but I think it’s more about self-confidence and self-belief every time you walk out to bat, and for me that's really just what changed. I was given a role, I was given a purpose and a responsibility and I really enjoyed that. So, yeah, and I guess, knowing that you're being backed, gives you a little bit of self-confidence as well. So that's really been the shift for me and I guess learning how to build an innings in ODI cricket is something that I never really got the opportunity to do sort of coming in the backend, just trying to slog away, like you're doing T20 cricket - so yeah, it's been a learning curve over the last five years but I've really enjoyed being given that responsibility top of the order, I love facing some of the best bowlers in the world. It's always a good challenge. So from that side of things, it's been a really pleasing run.

Reporter: You had three good innings in the other games but in Wellington you had four - Is it important, you've actually conquered this pitch as well as, is that another key part of mental preparation in the final?

Alysa Healy: No, not really that didn't cross my mind. Sorry, that hadn’t really cross my mind. And failure. Failure is an interesting word. I felt like I was able to start really well in a lot of those games and just probably found a way to get myself out. So from that point of view, like I said before, it was really pleasing to be able to go on with it today and help us to really, really awesome total, but yeah, it hadn't really crossed my mind. Sorry.

Reporter: Is it a cricket goal like it is an incredible highlight to actually make an ODI World Cup century?

Alysa Healy: Yeah, it's a great thing, I think for our group to be in a one day World Cup final. I mean, it's exactly where we wanted to be, when we landed in New Zealand. We knew we wanted to be in Christchurch, on the third of April, and we were going to do everything we possibly could to get there and I think we've played some, some unbelievable cricket throughout these last few weeks, with everything that's been thrown at us as well, I mean, Wellington is a really interesting place to play cricket. So it's been an enjoyable experience coming to the ground every day and different conditions being thrown at us. So just really proud of this group. And hopefully we can put it all together one more time on Sunday.

Reporter: I mean, you also said it's been unbelievable. I mean 8 wins straight sort of shows that you can have all the best preparation in the world, but sometimes it is kind of unbelievable when it comes together this well. Is that how you feel?

Alysa Healy: It doesn't surprise me if that's what you're getting at. I mean, this group of girls, I think we've got 17 with us on this trip, work harder than anybody else. I mean, if you come to training, you can see just how hard people are working. They're talking about plans and talking about ways they're going to combat the bowling that's going to be thrown at them. So it's no real surprise to me that I guess we've played as well as what we have, but it's just a matter of turning up every single day in a World Cup tournament and performing every day against a different opposition every time and I think that's probably what's most impressive about our group is we haven't really been caught napping at any point. It's just come here, get the job done and prepare for the next game and I think yeah, there's a obviously a great sense of achievement down in the change room at the minute but there's also a little bit of unfinished business, we want to get there on Sunday and put a good performance together and hopefully lift that trophy.

Reporter: And just finally, a couple got engaged on the Hill at the basin reserve during innings today, has that happened in your career before?

Alysa Healy: Not that I'm aware of. I haven't seen that happen before. We're all giving them a little clap on the field that they would have had no idea about but that was a really special moment for them. I'm actually really pumped that so many people turned out today. I mean, when you wake up this morning, there was fog, there was rain, there was everything that you could think of, in Wellington blowing over so to see so many people here cheering out two non-New Zealand teams was pretty awesome. And hopefully we gave them a good show.

Reporter: You said that this moment where Australia have arrived at is where they exactly wanted to be since that 2017 semifinal elimination and this also happens to be a personal highlight for you going by how your career has progressed since the 2017 Ashes.

How do you look back on that 26 or 27 year old who considered walking away from the game and probably trying something else? Can you walk us through such emotions and also Matthew Motts - and probably the Australian team management's role in giving you that opening and setting your career on a different route or altogether?

Alysa Healy: Yeah, so your question I think, for me - I probably look back and as a 26-27 year old as you said, at that moment in time, I was probably just a really frustrated cricketer. I probably didn't quite know where I fit in. Like I've obviously had a role in the team. It was full on, sort of to come in and ice the innings and sort of play those big shots at the back end. So from that point of view, I was sort of - yes I felt a little bit frustrated, I thought I could be able to do more, but I probably didn't believe that I could actually achieve any more than that. And I guess from that moment on when Motty tapped me on the shoulder and said, “we want you to open in the Ashes series - home Ashes.”

We want to sort of take out our style to play on this route. And we're giving you that responsibility. Go out there and enjoy it. And I think from that moment, I guess I just felt a little bit backed, I felt like maybe it was the right time as well to be able to get that opportunity and I guess that self-belief just developed over time. And yeah, I've had to change a few things technically over the years to, I guess stay in that role and continue to keep combating some unbelievable bowlers that share the new rock. So that's been a really enjoyable thing for me that I guess I've been able to see myself grow as a cricketer, as a person off the field but as a cricketer as well to just keep growing keep developing. Because I guess five years ago, I probably wasn't sure how much more I could get out of myself. So I guess to be able to see that come true has been really cool.

Reporter: And a word on Rachael Haynes considering you've also spent a lot of time in the domestic setup with her, she too happens to be somebody who considered retirement around by 2016-17 given she was juggling a day job plus being an elite cricketer and all of that. What does today's performance especially highlight about the Australian women’s cricket setup backing their players to retain talent , has Rachel walked away she would not have broken all these records with you today and sealed Australia's face in the final right?

Alysa Healy: Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's really funny to potentially even think that Rach wouldn't have been there today. I mean, it's just - it's not something that's ever crossed my mind. So yeah, it's a funny one. I mean, I guess the one thing that we're afforded in this group and in situations like that is perspective, and I think Rachel has an unbelievable perspective on life. I mean, she's got a little boy at home. I'm sure Leah her partner and a little kid got to be over here, cheering her on in the final, but I guess it gives us perspective and I mean for me to walk out with her great cricketing brain to be able to bounce ideas off her when I'm sort of bouncing around at the other end full of energy is really cool. And I think from the second ball today that she smashed the covers, we glove punched and I saw this look in her eye where she said ‘come on, we're going to go deep today’. And I think from that moment, I sort of Yeah, it scared me a little bit and I thought I'd better switch on and pay attention to the other and make sure I'm doing my job as well. So to have someone like that at the other end, is, yeah, it makes my job a lot easier.

Reporter: So what does the retention of talent that both you and Rachel have become sort of a testament to, what sort of message do you think this should send out to other teams which are not as well-resourced as Australia because we've seen the gulf between Australia in this tournament and the other sides. So what sort of a message do you think retention of talent and giving players a longish row could do to their World Cup campaigns or their performance at the international stage in the near future?

Alysa Healy: You just look at the professionalism of the game. I mean, we're really lucky in Australia that - we're really well supported and it's made having a cricketing career for a further extended period of time a lot easier to sort of manage. I mean, it wasn't that long ago that you sort of got to 30 and sort of had to retire because, life was starting to take over, you couldn't afford to pay your bills, pay your rent, whatever it might have been. You needed to go and work full time outside of the game, and that wasn't always an option. So I guess, now that it's fully professional, I mean, it's affording these amazing women an opportunity to continue their cricketing career well into their 30s and I feel like you don't really peak as an athlete or a cricketer until your late 20s. And you sort of know yourself and you know your game a lot more at the back end of that period of time unless you debut at 16 and you've been playing for 10 years. It's slightly different, but I mean, you don't really know enough about yourself in your early 20s and sort of to pull up stumps back then earlier, it was such a shame. So I guess from that point of view, the professionalism of the game is keeping these amazing women in the game longer. I mean, we're seeing babies at World Cups, which I think is amazing, and they're getting the opportunity to have a life outside of the game of cricket still come back and play the game at the highest level, which I think is amazing. And that's been an amazing step for women's cricket right around the globe and hopefully it just keeps enhancing.

Reporter: Just very quickly, I wanted to ask you about the announcement of the women's IPL and PSL as well, obviously hugely exciting developments still for the women's game. How are you feeling about those tournament's first of all, and I also wanted to know like do you have any worries about how scheduling conflicts might affect the international schedule when it comes to broader women's cricket?

Alysa Healy: Yeah, I think the announcement for those competitions is pretty great. I mean, it's exactly where we thought that the women's game needed to go, that was like the next step. I mean, we've had a really successful WBBL - So it went really well, now into the - 100 there's sort of some thriving domestic competition, so to see the announcement of the IPL in particular to be able to grow the game in India is unbelievable. It's such an untapped market I feel in the women's game. With so many people surely, they're going to be unbeatable in sort of a 10 year time. They just really needed a sort of a leg up in that domestic setup to I guess, showcase what these amazing women can do. So yeah, it's really exciting. It was the next step and you're right, the scheduling is going to come into play. Obviously what that looks like I'm not 100% Certain but we're going to have to work it out. Whether or not international players are going to be available for all the domestic comps, with an increase in international cricket or whether there's a focus on these domestic leagues, I’m not 100% Certain but for first and foremost, it's just great to see them being spoken about hopefully see them get off the ground and if they want a 32 to 33 year old opening better that can chirp a little bit behind the stumps. I'm available.