The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive victory over their opponents.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 runs in just under 25 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair put on 202 followed perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily succeeded,” she added.
From the time data was first taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll review,” the captain commented.
This allowed Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was key to making sure Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 balls, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the knock after they had gone almost shot for shot towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but failed to review when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose performance could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the target was rendered straightforward by a side who had chased down 330 against India four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
