The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, driving them to a merciless comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
Healy finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her similarly brilliant 142 that saw off the Indian team at the same Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to chase to their target of 199 runs in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a not at my best behind the stumps, and perhaps a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the win and progress,” she said.
Ironically, the utmost professionalism of the day's chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after perhaps Australia’s poorest 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 were missed.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately succeeded,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was first recorded on fielding metrics in 2013, the half-dozen missed catches represented Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that phase of the tournament – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll analyze,” the captain commented.
It helped Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had chosen to bat, their best-ever score in an ODI against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But Alana King spellbinding unbroken 10-over bowling performance, in which she took 2-18 with four maiden overs, was key to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
Healy Delighted with Win that Seals Knockout Place
Healy was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her undefeated side top of the group table on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, guarantees them a place in the last-four. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield struck 12 boundaries and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to record the third-highest partnership by any Aussie pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to grasp a tough lofted one off another bowler. Annoyingly, she also did take a clean catch off Brown but didn’t have it reviewed when the official rejected their shout.
The reinstated Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's most expensive bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Thrive as Alana King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 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 chased down 330 runs against the Indian side four 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. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to going back to the next venue to face England and the Proteas.”
