The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113 runs, arriving just four days after her equally impressive 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to dash to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I thought I was a not at my best with the gloves, and perhaps a little bit as captain as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of Thursday’s run-chase as the pair added 202 runs came after possibly the team's shoddiest display in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the skipper criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and luckily succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time data was first recorded on fielding statistics in the year 2013, the half-dozen missed opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“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 said.
It helped Bangladesh to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the maiden half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maidens, was vital to making sure the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Pleased with Victory that Seals Knockout Spot
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side at the top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced skipper raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Impresses with Maiden World Cup Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, getting to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve 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 Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the fastest balls at the World Cup 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 Leads
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Other spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their record total against the Australians, but the total was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against India a few days earlier.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said star performer King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to take on England and South Africa.”
