Injured Australia captain Healy out of England match

Alyssa Healy was named ICC Women's T20I Cricketer of the Year in 2018 and 2019

Captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of Australia's World Cup meeting with England on Wednesday with a calf injury.

Healy sustained the minor strain in a training session on Saturday and Australia face an anxious wait to see if she will recover in time to play again at the 50-over tournament.

Australia have booked their place in the semi-finals with two games to spare thanks to Healy's exploits - scoring 142 runs against India before hitting an unbeaten 113 against Bangladesh, making her the tournament's leading run-scorer with 294 in four innings.

Beth Mooney will replace Healy as wicketkeeper with Tahlia McGrath set to captain the side. Georgia Voll is expected to step in at the top of the batting order.

The defending champions sit top of the standings with four wins from their five matches. They lead 2022 runners-up England on net run rate before their encounter at Holkar Stadium in Indore.

Both teams will be overtaken by South Africa if they win their game against Pakistan on Tuesday.

South Africa and Australia finish their group stage fixtures by playing each other on Saturday in Indore.

The top four teams in the table advance to the semi-finals.

Australia beat England in the 2022 World Cup final and are bidding for a record-extending eighth title.

Healy faces a race against time to recover for the semi-finals with the first scheduled for 29 October in Guwahati or Colombo and the second due to take place the following day in Mumbai.

The 35-year-old, who made her Australia debut in 2010, has endured a difficult time with injuries in recent years.

She missed the final group game of the T20 World Cup in 2024 and was unavailable for their semi-final loss to South Africa with a plantar fascia issue.

Healy also missed large periods during the 2024-25 season with knee and foot problems keeping her sidelined for the majority of the Sydney Sixers' WBBL campaign, an ODI series against India, the T20 leg of the Ashes and a T20 tour of New Zealand.

She returned from injury in August to play six white-ball matches for Australia A against India A in Queensland, before being named in the World Cup squad.

'Healy has big shoes to fill'

England's penultimate group stage game was already a tantalising prospect. It is the first time they're facing Australia since the fateful Ashes at the start of the year - a series where England did not register a point.

Both sides are unbeaten in the tournament so far.

Now, one of them is without their captain.

Healy has history against England in World Cups, most famously with her brutal 170 to take the game away from England in the final of the previous edition in Christchurch in 2022. So losing her is a significant blow for the defending champions.

However, they have the greatest strength in depth in the women's game.

Healy's are big shoes to fill for youngster Voll, who is yet to feature in the tournament, but she stepped up with confidence when Healy suffered a similar injury during the Ashes and was ruled out of the T20 matches. Meanwhile, McGrath has plenty of captaincy experience in her absence.

But against a team of such class, England have got to grasp every benefit they possibly can. They have looked much more composed and settled under Charlotte Edwards, but it is time for them to show whether those Ashes wounds have healed.