Healy right to keep in Ashes opener, Cross in doubt

Alyssa Healy has been cleared to keep wicket in Sunday's opening Ashes ODI after passing a final fitness test, while England were still sweating on key pace bowler Kate Cross on the eve of the blockbuster clash.

The Australia captain, who made her return from a knee injury last month as a specialist batter but who has not kept in a game since November, was put through her paces with 30 minutes of glovework on Saturday morning.

Shortly after, she confirmed she was right to return to her usual position behind the stumps for the first match of the seven-game multi-format series.

"Yeah, good to go," Healy told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

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"I'd be lying if I said there wasn't any doubt, in particular off the back of a rough couple of months, but everything's progressed probably just as well as we would have hoped.

"I'm feeling really good and more importantly, I'm feeling really confident on it to be able to get out there and do that job.

"I wouldn't be doing it if I felt like I was going to let the team down."

Healy had hoped for some match practice with the gloves in Thursday's Governor-General's tour game against England but was denied the chance when the game was washed out.

She conceded the hectic Ashes schedule, which includes a tight turnaround for the second ODI in Melbourne on Tuesday, could prevent her from keeping wicket in all seven matches.

"I think it's just going to depend on how I pull up after each and every opportunity," Healy said.

"But we know we've got a pretty handy back up (in Beth Mooney) that's ready to do the job, and I know that I can run around in the field quite confidently as well, so we'll just play it by ear. 

"But from my perspective, I'd love to be out there keeping every game, but we'll just have to see how the body goes."

Healy added it was the lateral movements required when keeping wicket that presented an added challenge, given the nature of her knee injury.

"Being a lateral meniscus, it's quite a delicate one and anything on that side, the squatting and the pushing off sideways movements are not ideal, and that's what I do predominantly," she continued. 

"If I wasn't a wicketkeeper, I'd hopefully have been back out there sooner and would have been playing a bit more cricket." 

Healy said Australia were close to settling on their XI, as she hinted that fast bowler Darcie Brown was likely to be given the nod over leg-spinner Georgia Wareham – but added that the bowling attack would likely need to be rotated across the series given the heavy schedule.

In-form opener Georgia Voll is set to remain on the sidelines, despite again pushing her case with 57 opening alongside Healy in the Governor-General's game. 

"I'd imagine that Wolfie and Darcie and all the bowlers might rotate at some point in time, but that is a discussion," Healy said. 

"Looking at the wicket out there and knowing what North Sydney could give us first up early in the morning, having that little bit of nibble in the wicket is a good thing."

Meanwhile England will wait to make a late call on the availability of key pace bowler Cross, who is still recovering from the back spasms that cut short her tour of South Africa last month.

Cross revealed on the No Balls: The Cricket Podcast this week that she had an epidural – a pain-numbing injection into the spine – on Christmas Eve in an attempt to deal with her ongoing pain.

However, her recovery has not been as straightforward as hoped, leaving her in doubt for Sunday's game.

"We want to see a few things today," England captain Heather Knight said on Saturday. 

"Crossy is struggling a little bit with a back issue. 

"She's going to have a little bowl today and we'll make a final decision once we've looked at the wicket and seen where everyone is at post-training."

Knight said she was unfazed by England's washed-out tour game, pointing to their busy schedule of cricket through the latter half of 2024 as ideal preparation.

After a wet week in Sydney, both teams were able to train in sunshine at North Sydney Oval on Saturday and they went through their final preparations.

"(We've) been playing a huge amount of cricket ... it was deliberately designed that way so we were battle hardened and playing lots of cricket.

"So it's more getting the mindset right, because there can be anxiety sometimes that we haven't got a game in the middle, but actually we've been playing really well. 

"We've had loads of cricket recently. We're in a really good spot as a side, and now it's just about fine tuning, final day of preparation, this afternoon, final day practice and getting our mindset right ready to go tomorrow."