The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
Healy remained unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her equally impressive 142 that defeated the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I thought I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 runs came after perhaps the team's poorest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper scolding herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately delivered,” Healy continued.
Since statistics was first recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six dropped catches marked the team's worst fielding showing at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” Healy commented.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Confirms Semi-Final Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 balls, the quickest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she faced as she accelerated from her partner later 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 Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy dropped the easiest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to 13.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” remarked player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We anticipate going back to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
