The Australian skipper has executed superb back-to-back hundreds to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113 runs, coming just four days after her equally impressive 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the win and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s something we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to ensuring Australia’s chase wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Delighted with Win that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she pulled away from her partner later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain dropped the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India four days before.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to face the English team and the Proteas.”
