The Australian skipper has delivered outstanding back-to-back hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, motivating them to a dominant 10-wicket win over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off hosts India at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she combined in an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just under 25 deliveries.
“I thought I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the pair added 202 followed perhaps the team's shoddiest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping a couple of the six chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding performance metrics in the year 2013, the six missed opportunities marked the team's poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Perhaps it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever total in an One-Day International against Australia, with Sobhana Mostary compiling the first fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's mesmeric unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Spot
Healy was delighted to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a berth in the last-four. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The 35-year-old skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she pulled away from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with Maiden Tournament Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries soon after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best 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 edges off Darcie Brown and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean chance off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their shout.
The recalled Darcie Brown bowled the quickest balls at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by Alana 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 overs) and Gardner (2-48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her tally to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and Mostary’s unbeaten 66 runs off 80 deliveries took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match Alana King. “No doubt it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to take on the English team and South Africa.”
