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Alyssa Healy will be able to play as a wicketkeeper for Australia in the Ashes series opener, after getting through a solid work out on her sore knee.
Alyssa Healy has been cleared to captain Australia from behind the stumps in the Ashes series opener after getting through a crucial fitness test on her knee.
Always set to play in the XI, Healy got through around 30 minutes of glovework on Saturday at North Sydney Oval before declaring she was fine to 'keep on Sunday.
Her readiness behind the stumps comes as a massive boost for Australia ahead of the first ODI, allowing Beth Mooney to stay in the field as a safe pair of hands at slip.
"I'm good to go," Healy said.
"I would be lying if I said there wasn't any doubt off the back of a rough couple of months, but everything has progressed as well as we would have hoped.
"I am feeling really good and more importantly more confident on it to go out and do that job. I wouldn't be doing it if I felt like I was going to let the team down."
Australia are set to again leave out in-form opener Georgia Voll from Sunday's side, after she made scores of 46no, 101 and 26 filling in for Healy last month.
A decision must also be made on whether to include quick Darcie Brown or spinner Georgia Wareham, with the early start likely to push Australia towards Brown.
Bowlers will likely rotate through the multi-format series with three ODIs, three T20s and a Test to be completed before February 2.
Healy herself admitted medical staff had also taken a long-term view on the meniscus damage in her knee, suggesting she still has some time left in international cricket at age 34.
A seven-time World Cup winner across all formats, Healy has the chance to win a 50-over as captain for the first time in India in October after T20 disappointment last year.
She is also yet to win an Ashes series as captain with Australia drawing the 2023 series in England last year after dominating early.
"It wouldn't bother me if I was captain or not, I would just like to win both those things," Healy said.
"It is obviously a big 12 months for our group. We said that leading into the T20 World Cup as well.
"But you look at this series in isolation and it is a big one for us.
"The finish to it last time in England left the girls wanting more and wanting to improve and evolve."
England captain Heather Knight suggested on Saturday that Australia had been "scarred" by that series, with Healy's team having taken a more attacking approach since.
Healy also admitted her team would be driven by it after they won the series-opening Test on that occasion and first T20 before dropping four of the last five games.
"I don't want to annoy anyone and talk about moral victories. I think it was just the way it petered out at the end (that hurt)," Healy said.
"We put a lot of work into that Test match and ... assumed the white-ball games we would be okay.
"But England threw a few things at us we hadn't seen before and probably took the game on a bit more and put us on the back foot.
"We're well prepared for that now."