The Australian skipper has produced outstanding back-to-back centuries to guide her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly impressive 142 that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and move on,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 followed possibly the team's weakest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for spilling a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily delivered,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s something we’ll review,” Healy said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was delighted to discover that the triumph, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Impresses with First Tournament Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best stand by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy dropped the easiest of chances off Darcie Brown and also failed to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the official turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup so far but was still the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the spinners excelled, led by Alana King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spinners Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to 13.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took the team to their record score against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a side who had chased down 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
