The Australian skipper has executed brilliant back-to-back centuries to lead her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a dominant 10-wicket win over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just four days after her equally brilliant 142-run knock that defeated hosts India at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken 200-run first-wicket stand with her opening partner (84no) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and probably a little bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll accept the two points and move on,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost expertise of Thursday’s chase as the duo added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s shoddiest performance in the fielding department under the captain's stewardship, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for dropping two of the six catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my glovework, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” she added.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding performance metrics in 2013, the six dropped catches represented the team's worst fielding display 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 analyze,” the captain said.
This allowed the opposition to eke out 9-198 after they had opted to bat first, their highest total in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter compiling the maiden fifty ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over spell, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase wasn’t too challenging.
Healy Pleased with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was pleased to learn that the victory, which places her unbeaten team top of the group table on nine points after four victories and a abandoned match, secures them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her century off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from her partner in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
Left-hander Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her maiden tournament fifty off 46 balls soon after Healy reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best stand by any Australian duo at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding display, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also failed to grasp a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ costliest bowler, going for 0-52 off her nine overs.
Spinners Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (2-48 off nine) both contributed, while Sutherland strengthened her standing as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her total to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever score against the Australians, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had chased down 330 runs against the Indian side a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to the next venue to face the English team and the Proteas.”
