The Australian skipper has produced brilliant back-to-back centuries to steer her team into the semi-finals of the World Cup, inspiring them to a dominant comprehensive trouncing over Bangladesh.
The wicketkeeper-batter finished not out on 113, coming just a few days after her equally stellar 142-run knock that defeated the Indian team at the same Visakhapatnam venue. This time, she combined in an undefeated 200-run opening partnership with her opening partner (84 not out) to dash to their goal of 199 in just under 25 overs.
“I felt I was a not at my best with the gloves, and probably a bit as skipper as well tonight, but we’ll take the two points and progress,” Healy remarked.
Ironically, the supreme expertise of the day's run-chase as the duo put on 202 runs came after possibly Australia’s weakest performance in the field under the captain's stewardship, with the captain scolding herself in especial for dropping two of the six chances that went down.
“I was a little bit disappointed with my wicketkeeping, and I had a little bit to make up for with the bat, and fortunately got the job done,” Healy continued.
From the time statistics was initially taken on fielding statistics in 2013, the six dropped opportunities marked the team's worst fielding showing at a Women’s World Cup.
“Maybe it’s just that time of the competition – we’ve been here a while, and it’s an issue we’ll reflect on,” Healy said.
It helped the opposition to manage 9-198 after they had chosen to bat first, their best-ever score in an One-Day International against the Aussies, with a key batter scoring the first fifty ever for the Asian side against the world champions.
But the spinner's spellbinding continuous 10-over bowling performance, in which she took two wickets for 18 runs with four maiden overs, was crucial to ensuring Australia’s chase remained manageable.
The Captain Pleased with Win that Confirms Knockout Place
The Australian skipper was thrilled to learn that the triumph, which puts her unbeaten side top of the standings on nine points after four wins and a abandoned match, secures them a place in the last-four. “That's fantastic,” she exclaimed.
The experienced skipper sped to her hundred off just 73 deliveries, the quickest hundred of the tournament, and finished with 20 fours off the 77 deliveries she confronted as she accelerated from Litchfield later in the knock after they had gone practically boundary-for-boundary towards their half-centuries.
Litchfield Shines with First Tournament Fifty
The young batter Phoebe Litchfield hit 12 boundaries and one maximum, reaching to her first tournament half-century off 46 deliveries shortly after Healy got there off 43. They went on to record the third-best partnership by any Australian pair at a Women’s World Cup.
Earlier, during the sluggish fielding effort, Healy spilled the simplest of chances off a teammate and also was unable to hold on to 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 official turned down their appeal.
The recalled Brown sent down the fastest deliveries at the tournament so far but was nonetheless the team's costliest bowling option, going for 52 runs without a wicket off her nine overs.
Spin Attack Excel as King Leads
Instead, the slow bowlers thrived, led by King, whose performance could have been more successful if a fielder hadn’t missed one in the slips.
Fellow spin bowlers Wareham (two for 22 off seven overs) and Gardner (two for 48 off nine overs) both contributed, while Annabel Sutherland consolidated her standing as the tournament’s leading wicket-taker with her two for 41, bringing her tally to thirteen.
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 easy meat by a side who had successfully pursued 330 runs against India a few days earlier.
“It's fantastic when you’ve got the ‘Q’ beside 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 Indore to face England and South Africa.”
