The Australian skipper has produced outstanding consecutive hundreds to lead her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant comprehensive victory over Bangladesh.
Healy finished unbeaten on 113, arriving just four days after her equally stellar 142 that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag venue. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“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 recorded on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's worst 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 an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy commented.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest total in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the maiden half-century ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric continuous ten-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was crucial to making sure Australia’s target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which puts her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That’s really cool,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Fifty
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup half-century off 46 balls shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Aussie duo at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, 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 did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their shout.
The reinstated Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was still the team's most expensive bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as Alana King Stars
In contrast, the slow bowlers thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven) and Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her standing as the tournament’s top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her total to thirteen.
A batter's 44 runs and Mostary’s not out 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs 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 returning to the next venue to face the English team and South Africa.”
