The Australian skipper has executed superb consecutive hundreds to steer her team into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter remained unbeaten on 113, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142-run knock that saw off the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she shared an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84no) to race to their goal of 199 in just 24.5 overs.
“I felt I was a little bit poor behind the stumps, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Interestingly, the supreme expertise of the day's chase as the duo added 202 followed possibly Australia’s poorest performance in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in especial for spilling two of the half-dozen chances that went down.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the batting, and fortunately got the job done,” she added.
From the time data was first taken on fielding performance statistics in the year 2013, the six missed catches marked Australia’s poorest 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 something we’ll reflect on,” the captain said.
This allowed Bangladesh to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their best-ever total in an ODI against the Aussies, with Sobhana Mostary scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the reigning champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous ten-over bowling performance, in which she claimed 2-18 with four maiden overs, was vital to making sure the team's target wasn’t too challenging.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Seals Semi-Final Spot
Healy was thrilled to discover that the triumph, which places her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, guarantees them a place in the semi-finals. “That's great news,” she said.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the World Cup, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 balls she faced as she pulled away from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with Maiden World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield struck 12 fours and a six, reaching to her first World Cup fifty off 46 balls shortly after Healy reached hers off 43. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Aussie pair at a World Cup event.
Earlier, during the subpar fielding effort, the captain spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also failed to grasp a difficult lofted one off another bowler. Frustratingly, she also did take a clear catch off the same bowler but failed to review when the official turned down their appeal.
The reinstated Darcie Brown bowled the fastest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, conceding 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as King Leads
In contrast, the spinners thrived, spearheaded by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder 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 chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland strengthened her position as the competition's leading wicket-taker with her 2-41, taking her tally to 13.
A batter's 44 and Mostary’s not out 66 runs off 80 balls took the team to their highest-ever score against the Aussies, but the target was made to look straightforward by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days before.
“It's great when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a global tournament,” said star performer Alana King. “Certainly it won't end here. We look forward to returning to Indore to face England and the Proteas.”
