Ian Andrew Healy (nicknamed "Heals") (born 30 April 1964) is an Australian former international cricketer who played for Queensland domestically. A specialist wicketkeeper and useful right-hand middle-order batsman, he made an unheralded entry to international cricket in 1988, after only six first-class games. His work ethic and combativeness was much needed by an Australian team that was performing poorly. Over the next decade, Healy was a key member of the side as it enjoyed a sustained period of success. By the time of his retirement, Healy held the world record for most Test dismissals by a wicket-keeper.
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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Ian Andrew Healy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
30 April 1964 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Heals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Wicket-keeper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relations |
Tom Healy (son) Alyssa Healy (niece) Greg Healy (brother) Mitchell Starc (nephew-in-law) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| Test debut (cap 344) | 15 September 1988 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Test | 17 October 1999 v Zimbabwe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ODI debut (cap 102) | 14 October 1988 v Pakistan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last ODI | 25 May 1997 v England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Domestic team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1999 | Queensland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 30 March 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Healy was a very useful batsman and improved dramatically during the second half of his career. All of his four first-class centuries were scored in Test matches. He could be handy as a hitter late in the innings during ODIs: he averaged 21 while scoring at a rate of 83.8 runs per hundred balls. Although touted as a potential leader of the team early in his career, a series of on-field misdemeanours counted against him when the position was vacant. He captained Australia in eight ODIs when the regular skipper Mark Taylor was injured.
Contents
Early days
Born in the Brisbane suburb of Spring Hill, Healy was educated at Brisbane State High School. Healy and his family relocated 600 kilometres (370 mi) north to the small town of Biloela in 1972, due to his father’s transfer in his job as a bank manager. Rod Marsh inspired Healy to take up wicket-keeping; he also played basketball, soccer, squash and rugby league. He represented the Queensland under-11 team and later attended a clinic conducted by the touring Queensland cricketers. The team’s wicket-keeper John Maclean gave him some specialist coaching, which gave his junior career further impetus.
During his later years in the town, Healy played alongside adults, which accelerated his progress. Returning to Brisbane with his family at the age of 17 he played for Brisbane State High School 1st XI and 1st Xv, he then joined the Northern Suburbs club in Brisbane’s grade competition in 1982. After three matches for the Queensland Colts as a specialist batsman, Healy made his first-class debut in 1986–87 as a replacement for the injured Peter Anderson. However, Anderson remained the first choice as the state’s wicketkeeper for the next eighteen months, during which time Healy managed only six first-class appearances.
International career
Given his small number of games for Queensland, Healy’s selection for the Australian team to tour Pakistan in late 1988 was a major surprise. The wicket-keeping position had proved a problem for Australia since the 1984 retirement of Healy’s boyhood hero, Rod Marsh. Wayne B. Phillips, Tim Zoehrer, Greg Dyer and Steve Rixon had all been tried with little success. Australian selector Greg Chappell had watched Healy’s progress in Queensland, and believed that he offered the lower-order batting stability and determined approach to the game that the Australian team was lacking.
By his own admission, Healy was overwhelmed by his sudden elevation and took some time to settle into the team. The selectors persevered with him through the difficult Pakistan tour and the subsequent home series against the West Indies, even though Australia lost both series.
An improvement in the team’s performances coincided with Healy’s establishment as a Test-class player. On the tour of England in 1989, he was safe behind the stumps in taking 14 Test catches, but averaged only 17.16 with the bat, as Australia won 4–0 to regain the Ashes. In seven Tests against New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Pakistan during the extended season of 1989–90, Healy accepted 23 catches and recorded a top score of 48.