The Australian skipper has delivered superb back-to-back hundreds to steer her squad into the last four of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a commanding comprehensive trouncing over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113 runs, arriving just a few days after her similarly stellar 142 that saw off the Indian team at the identical Vizag stadium. This time, she shared an undefeated double-century opening partnership with Phoebe Litchfield (84 not out) to race to their target of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a little bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll accept the win and progress,” she said.
Interestingly, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the pair added 202 came after perhaps Australia’s weakest display in the fielding department under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for dropping a couple of the half-dozen catches that were missed.
“I felt somewhat let down with my wicketkeeping, and I needed to compensate with the bat, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
From the time statistics was initially recorded on fielding metrics in the year 2013, the half-dozen dropped catches marked Australia’s poorest fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the tournament – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
This allowed the opposition to manage 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat, their highest score in an One-Day International against Australia, with a key batter scoring the first half-century ever for the Bangladeshi team against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding unbroken ten-over spell, in which she took 2-18 with four maidens, was crucial to making sure the team's target remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to discover that the victory, which places her unbeaten team at the top of the standings on nine points after four victories and a wash-out, guarantees them a berth in the semi-finals. “That's fantastic,” she said.
The 35-year-old captain raced to her century off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the World Cup, and ended with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield in the latter stages in the innings after they had gone almost boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Shines with First World Cup Half-Century
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 fours and a six, getting to her maiden World Cup half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after her partner reached hers off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of edges off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to a tough skied one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also take a clean catch off Brown but failed to review when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Darcie Brown sent down the quickest deliveries at the World Cup so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the spinners thrived, led by King, whose spell could have been even more productive if a fielder hadn’t dropped one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Georgia Wareham (2-22 off seven) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Sutherland consolidated her position as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, taking her total to thirteen.
Rubya Haider’s 44 runs and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their record score against the Australians, but the target was rendered easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 against the Indian side four days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside your name in a World Cup,” said player-of-the-match King. “No doubt it doesn’t stop here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on England and South Africa.”
