The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to guide her team into the last four of the World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 runs followed perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the field under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” Healy continued.
Since data was first taken on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But Alana King mesmeric unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old captain sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and one maximum, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 balls soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to record the third-highest stand by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off Darcie Brown and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Frustratingly, she also take a clear chance off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was still the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against the Indian side a few days before.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
