The Australian skipper has executed outstanding consecutive hundreds to steer her squad into the semi-finals of the Women's Cricket World Cup, motivating them to a dominant comprehensive win over their opponents.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished unbeaten on 113, coming just four days after her similarly impressive 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the identical Visakhapatnam stadium. This time, she shared an unbroken double-century first-wicket stand with Phoebe Litchfield (84no) to chase to their target of 199 in just 24.5 deliveries.
“I felt I was a below par with the gloves, and perhaps a bit as skipper as well today, but we’ll take the two points and move on,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme professionalism of the day's run-chase as the duo added 202 followed perhaps the team's weakest display in the field under Healy’s leadership, with the captain criticizing herself in particular for spilling two of the half-dozen catches that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the batting, and luckily got the job done,” she added.
Since data was initially taken on fielding performance statistics in 2013, the half-dozen dropped opportunities marked Australia’s worst fielding display at a World Cup tournament.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a little while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to eke out 198 for 9 after they had opted to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International 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 spell, in which she claimed two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring the team's chase remained manageable.
The Captain Delighted with Victory that Seals Semi-Final Place
The Australian skipper was pleased to discover that the triumph, which places her undefeated team top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a wash-out, secures them a place in the last-four. “That’s really cool,” she said.
The experienced captain raced to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the fastest century of the tournament, and finished with 20 boundaries off the 77 balls she confronted as she accelerated from her partner later in the innings after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their fifties.
The Opener Impresses with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and a six, getting to her first World Cup fifty off 46 deliveries soon after Healy got there off 43 balls. They went on to achieve the third-highest partnership by any Australian pair at a World Cup event.
In the first innings, during the sluggish fielding display, the captain dropped the easiest of edges off Darcie Brown and also was unable to hold on to a tough lofted one off Annabel Sutherland. Annoyingly, she also did take a clear chance off the same bowler but didn’t have it reviewed when the umpire turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown bowled the quickest balls at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the Aussies’ most expensive bowler, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spinners Excel as Alana King Stars
Instead, the slow bowlers excelled, spearheaded by Alana King, whose spell could have been even more productive if Beth Mooney hadn’t dropped one in the slip cordon.
Other spinners Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Ash Gardner (two for 48 off nine) both chipped in, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her position as the competition's top wicket-taker with her 2-41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
A batter's 44 and another's unbeaten 66 off 80 balls took Bangladesh to their highest-ever total against the Aussies, but the target was made to look easy meat by a team who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India four days earlier.
“It’s always nice when you’ve got the ‘Q’ next to your name in a World Cup,” remarked star performer King. “Certainly it won't end here. We anticipate returning to Indore to take on the English team and the Proteas.”
