Alyssa Healy is finally a believer in her own ability. And so she should be.
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The darling of Australia's women's World Twenty20 success scooped up the most obvious award on offer after her team's eight-wicket rout of England in the final, named player of the tournament.
Healy's fortnight of domination is arguably one of the greatest all-round displays at a women's World T20 as she topped the run-scoring and dismissals lists behind the stumps.
Her 225 runs were the fourth most in any of the six World T20 tournaments, and second in terms of Australians to Meg Lanning in 2014.
Her average of 56.25 was the highest of any Australian at the tournament, and second highest of any player with more than 200 runs. Second too was her strike-rate of 144.23 and the 36 boundaries she whacked.
With the gloves her eight dismissals are also the equal-second most in a tournament, while the four she took against Ireland was also an Australian record.
She finished with four player-of-the-match awards in six matches, and one of the games she wasn't given that honour she couldn't bat because of a concussion,
"I can guarantee you that I would never have thought I'd walk away from the tournament being player of the tournament," Healy said after the final.
"I can take some confidence out of that. It's taken me a long while to believe I was going to fit in at this level and to finally achieve that is something pretty special.
"I probably look like a really confident cheerful person on the outside but I'm usually churning on the inside.
"Hopefully I can take that into the next few years of my career."
Healy has spoken at length about what's changed in her game over the past year as she benefits from an extended pre-season with NSW.
Elevation to captain of her state side has seen her accept her rise as a leader, while the move to the top of the order has given her the freedom to take an all-or-nothing approach with the bat.
"It's just believing in everything I'm doing and everything I'm working towards," Healy said.
HEALY'S INCREDIBLE 2018 WORLD TWENTY20 CAMPAIGN
- Games: 6
- Innings: 5
- Runs: 225 (1st)
- Average: 56.25 (1st)*
- Strike rate: 144.23 (2nd)*
- Dismissals: 8 (1st)
*Stats qualifier minimum 100 runs.
Australian Associated Press
