Indore, Oct 21: Australia captain Alyssa Healy has been ruled out of the team’s upcoming Women’s World Cup encounter against arch-rivals England after sustaining a minor calf strain during a training session last Saturday.

Tahlia McGrath, the side’s vice captain, will lead the team in Healy’s absence as the defending champions look to continue their unbeaten run in the tournament. Healy might also miss out on Australia’s final group stage encounter against South Africa if she fails to recover before the clash on Saturday, October 25.

While Beth Mooney will don the gloves in Healy’s absence, Georgia Voll is likely to make her way into the XI as the team falls one player short ahead of the high-octane encounter.

Both Australia and England have qualified for the semi-final and are unbeaten in the tournament thus far. Both sides have nine points to their name from five matches, having won four games and one of their games being abandoned due to rain.

However, the Women in Yellow are on top of the points table courtesy of a higher Net Run Rate (NRR).

Healy has maintained excellent form throughout the tournament, anchoring her team's batting. She is currently Australia’s top scorer, accumulating 294 runs in four games, including two centuries.

She scored an impressive 142 off 107 balls against India, her sixth ODI century and first as captain, leading Australia to the highest successful chase in women’s ODI history.

Healy followed it up with a 113 not out knock in a commanding 10-wicket win against Bangladesh, making it two tons in a row.

Australia won their tournament opener against New Zealand by 89 runs to start their campaign on a high note. While their second game against Sri Lanka was abandoned without the toss taking place, the Aussies went on to beat Pakistan, India and Bangladesh in their subsequent three encounters.

-- IANS